Upanishads · Bhasmajābāla 2.63
॥
Devanāgarī
ततस्ते मुक्ता मामनुविशन्ति विज्ञानमयेनाङ्गेन । न पुनरावर्तन्ते हुताशनप्रतिष्ठं हविरिव तत्रैव मुक्त्यर्थमुपदिश्यते शैवोऽयं मन्त्रः पञ्चाक्षरः
Transliteration (IAST)
tataste muktā māmanuviśanti vijñānamayenāṅgena | na punarāvartante hutāśanapratiṣṭhaṃ haviriva tatraiva muktyarthamupadiśyate śaivo'yaṃ mantraḥ pañcākṣaraḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ततः ते मुक्ताः माम् अनुविशन्तिtataḥ te muktāḥ mām anuviśantithen they, liberated, enter into me
विज्ञान-मयेन अङ्गेनvijñāna-mayena aṅgenawith a body made of knowledge
न पुनः आवर्तन्तेna punaḥ āvartantethey do not return again
हुताशन-प्रतिष्ठं हविः इवhutāśana-pratiṣṭhaṃ haviḥ ivalike an oblation set into the fire
Translation
«Then they, liberated, enter into me with a body made of knowledge. They do not return again — like an oblation set into the fire. There too, for the sake of liberation, this śaiva mantra is taught, the five-syllable one».
Version
71f0de2c8dc8 · published Aug 7, 2026, 4:41:18 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A comparison is given by which complete dissolution is usually proven: the liberated one enters Him «as an oblation into fire». Oil poured into flame vanishes without remainder — and so, it would seem, the one who has entered vanishes too. But in the same line stands a word that contradicts this comparison: vijñāna-mayena aṅgena, «with a body made of knowledge».
Aṅga means «limb, body, part»; and it is said one enters with it, not without it. Oil enters the fire with nothing; but here the one who enters brings with him something called a body. This contradiction is not our invention or a quibble: two images stand side by side in one sentence, and they can be reconciled in only one way — by acknowledging that «entering» here is not the annihilation of the one who enters.
The Vaishnava side reads such passages exactly this way, and rests on the word maya, «made of»: for it, the liberated one obtains a body not of matter but of knowledge and bliss — sac-cid-ānanda; and so he both «enters» and remains. Let us add a simple observation about the comparison itself too. An oblation is poured into fire not in order to destroy it, but so that it may reach the one for whom it is meant; and in the rite the vanishing of the oil is not its end but the manner of its delivery. So even the chosen image, thought through to its end, speaks not of annihilation, but of delivery.