Upanishads · Bhasmajābāla 1.12
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वं ह वा एतदिदं भस्म । पूतं पावनं नमामि सद्यः समस्ताघशासकमिति शिरसाभिनम्य
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvaṃ ha vā etadidaṃ bhasma | pūtaṃ pāvanaṃ namāmi sadyaḥ samastāghaśāsakamiti śirasābhinamya
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वं ह वैsarvaṃ ha vaiall this, indeed
एतत् इदं भस्मetat idaṃ bhasmathis here — is ash
पूतं पावनं नमामिpūtaṃ pāvanaṃ namāmito the pure, the purifying, I bow
सद्यः समस्त-अघ-शासकम्sadyaḥ samasta-agha-śāsakamwho at once subdues every sin
इति शिरसा अभिनम्यiti śirasā abhinamyahaving thus bowed with the head
Translation
«All this here — is ash. «To the pure, the purifying, I bow, who at once subdues every sin» — having thus bowed with the head…»
Version
a15101aa08f2 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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It is said as a summation: sarvam ha vai etad idaṃ bhasma, «all this here — is ash». The turn sarvam idam, «all this», is constant in the upaniṣads and denotes the world in its entirety; and it is usually followed by the name of what this world is declared to be. In the Chāndogya — «all this is Brahman» (3.14.1); in the Īśā — «all this must be covered by the Lord» (1).
Here ash is put in that place. This substitution, once spelled out, turns out to be forceful and grim. Where other books put Brahman or the Lord, this one puts what remains from what was burnt.
Worth noting, though: it can be read more gently, and the commentators do read it so: all this by its very nature is destined to become ash, and so ash is the truth about the world. The Vaishnava side does not argue with the first half: the world is indeed doomed. It argues with the claim that this says everything. For one can say of the world both «it will burn» and «it is His»; and both statements are true, but their consequences differ.
From the first follows aversion; from the second, service. And so Rūpa Gosvāmī directly named renunciation of things that could have served phalgu-vairāgya, «empty renunciation», as discussed when reading Yoga-kuṇḍalinī (3.4).