Upanishads · Bhasmajābāla 1.11
॥
Devanāgarī
ततो भोजयेद्ब्राह्मणान् । ततः स्वयं पूतो भवति । मानस्तोक इति सद्यो जातमित्यादि पञ्चब्रह्ममन्त्रैर्भस्म संगृह्याग्निरिति भस्म वायुरिति भस्म जलमिति भस्म स्थलमिति भस्म व्योमेति भस्म देवा भस्म ऋषयो भस्म
Transliteration (IAST)
tato bhojayedbrāhmaṇān | tataḥ svayaṃ pūto bhavati | mānastoka iti sadyo jātamityādi pañcabrahmamantrairbhasma saṃgṛhyāgniriti bhasma vāyuriti bhasma jalamiti bhasma sthalamiti bhasma vyometi bhasma devā bhasma ṛṣayo bhasma
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ततः भोजयेत् ब्राह्मणान्tataḥ bhojayet brāhmaṇānthen let him feed brahmins
ततः स्वयं पूतः भवतिtataḥ svayaṃ pūtaḥ bhavatithen he himself becomes pure
पञ्च-ब्रह्म-मन्त्रैः भस्म संगृह्यpañca-brahma-mantraiḥ bhasma saṃgṛhyahaving gathered the ash with the five brahma-mantras
अग्निः इति भस्मagniḥ iti bhasma«fire» — ash
वायुः इति भस्मvāyuḥ iti bhasma«wind» — ash
देवाः भस्म ऋषयः भस्मdevāḥ bhasma ṛṣayaḥ bhasmagods — ash, sages — ash
Translation
«Then let him feed brahmins; then he himself becomes pure. Having gathered the ash with the five brahma-mantras: fire — ash, wind — ash, water — ash, earth — ash, space — ash, gods — ash, sages — ash…»
Version
c7ef6642a620 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A list begins in which everything is called ash: fire, wind, water, earth, space, gods, seers. It is worth unpacking what is said here, for this is the very thought of the whole book. Ash is what remains when everything else has burnt. And the list says: fire will burn, and wind, and water, and earth, and heaven; the gods and the seers will burn; and from all of it the same grey substance remains.
This thought occurs elsewhere in these books too, and it is not empty. Everything we see comes to an end; and from everything the same grey matter remains, in which one can no longer tell what it once was. Hence the custom of smearing oneself with ash: a person carries on himself a reminder of the end. It is the same custom that makes people set a skull on the table or wear one at the breast; and there is a sobriety in it deserving its due.
The Vaishnava side remembers the end no less and speaks of it in words no softer. The Bhāgavatam devotes a whole chapter to describing aging and death (3.30), and the Gītā calls the world duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, «an abode of suffering, impermanent» (8.15). The difference is not in remembering the end, but in what is remembered along with it. Ash reminds that everything will burn; the Name reminds who remains. And so one mark is made from what has burnt, and the other from clay, out of which one shapes.