Upanishads · Bhasmajābāla 2.32
॥
Devanāgarī
त्रिशूलगां काशीमधिश्रित्य त्यक्तासवोऽपि मय्येव संविशन्ति । प्रज्वलवह्निगं हविर्यथा न यजमानमासादयति तथासौ त्यक्त्वा कुणपं न तत्तादृशं पुरा प्राप्नुवन्ति
Transliteration (IAST)
triśūlagāṃ kāśīmadhiśritya tyaktāsavo'pi mayyeva saṃviśanti | prajvalavahnigaṃ haviryathā na yajamānamāsādayati tathāsau tyaktvā kuṇapaṃ na tattādṛśaṃ purā prāpnuvanti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
त्रि-शूल-गां काशीम् अधिश्रित्यtri-śūla-gāṃ kāśīm adhiśrityahaving taken refuge in Kāśī, standing on the trident
त्यक्त-असवः अपि मयि एव संविशन्तिtyakta-asavaḥ api mayi eva saṃviśantiand even those who have given up breath enter into me
प्रज्वल-वह्नि-गं हविः यथाprajvala-vahni-gaṃ haviḥ yathālike an oblation reaching the blazing fire
न यजमानम् आसादयतिna yajamānam āsādayatidoes not return to the sacrificer
तथा असौ त्यक्त्वा कुणपंtathā asau tyaktvā kuṇapaṃso he too, having abandoned the corpse
Translation
«Having taken refuge in Kāśī, standing on the trident, and even those who have given up breath enter into me. As an oblation reaching the blazing fire does not return to the sacrificer, so he too, having abandoned the corpse, does not attain [his former state]».
Version
037a5acec1ec · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Kāśī, Vārāṇasī, appears, and the second half of the book will be about it. A comparison is given: prajvala-vahni-gam haviḥ, «an oblation reaching the blazing fire» — it does not return to the one who poured it. This comparison deserves unpacking, for it is precise and grim.
What is poured into fire is not taken back. It has gone; and the one who made the offering, however much he might wish it, will not get it back. So too, on this reading, the one who dies in this city does not return.
Worth noting the word kuṇapa, «corpse», by which the body is called. A harsh and deliberate word: not «body» but «carrion». The Vaishnava side speaks of the body after death just as bluntly and without adornment; the Bhāgavatam calls it by the same words. The difference is not in the estimation of the corpse, but in what is said to the living about it: for it, the living body is an instrument of service, as discussed when reading Yoga-kuṇḍalinī (2.28), and it becomes a corpse only once it has ceased to serve.
Separately worth mentioning the expression triśūla-gam kāśī, «Kāśī standing on the trident». By tradition this city stands on the point of Śiva's trident and so does not sink at the world's dissolution. This image, for all its strangeness, is an image of a fixed point: everything is swept away, and this stands. What makes such faith in a place both good and dangerous will be discussed further on.