Upanishads · Bhasmajābāla 2.53
॥
Devanāgarī
एतैरेतावद्भिर्द्विगुणैरभिषिच्य स्वर्गलोककामः स्वर्गलोकमवाप्नोति
Transliteration (IAST)
etairetāvadbhirdviguṇairabhiṣicya svargalokakāmaḥ svargalokamavāpnoti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एतैः एतावद्भिः द्वि-गुणैः अभिषिच्यetaiḥ etāvadbhiḥ dvi-guṇaiḥ abhiṣicyahaving bathed [it] with these same, doubled
स्वर्ग-लोक-कामःsvarga-loka-kāmaḥone desiring the heavenly world
स्वर्ग-लोकम् अवाप्नोतिsvarga-lokam avāpnotiattains the heavenly world
Translation
«Having bathed [it] with these same, doubled — one desiring the heavenly world attains the heavenly world».
Version
480c9951504e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The same, but doubled — and out comes heaven. This detail, to my mind, is the most telling in the whole list. The difference between the world of the sun and heaven turned out to lie not in the kind of offering, but in its amount: the same grain, only two cartloads instead of one.
Here the limit of this way of measuring shows itself. Where the goal is measured by the quantity invested, there is no qualitative boundary between the steps: they all lie on one line, and one climbs it simply by bringing more. The Vaishnava side stresses this point, and it deserves repeating. Of heaven the Gītā speaks without any reverence: those who reach it, «their merit exhausted, enter the world of mortals» (9.21); and the whole turn of phrase — «the fruit spent, they return» — describes not a place but an account, which sooner or later comes to zero.
Hence in its books heaven and hell stand on the same side, not opposite ones: both are a term served out according to what has been accumulated. The difference between them is great for the one serving it, but negligible for the one asking about the way out.