Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 1.12
॥
Devanāgarī
व्रणयुक्तमयुक्तं च षड्रुद्राक्षाणि वर्जयेत् । स्वयमेव कृतं द्वारं रुद्राक्षं स्यादिहोत्तमम्
Transliteration (IAST)
vraṇayuktamayuktaṃ ca ṣaḍrudrākṣāṇi varjayet | svayameva kṛtaṃ dvāraṃ rudrākṣaṃ syādihottamam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
व्रण-युक्तम् अ-युक्तं चvraṇa-yuktam a-yuktaṃ cawith a flaw and disproportionate
षट् रुद्राक्षाणि वर्जयेत्ṣaṭ rudrākṣāṇi varjayetlet him reject six kinds of rudrākṣa
स्वयम् एव कृतं द्वारंsvayam eva kṛtaṃ dvāraṃan opening made by itself
रुद्राक्षं स्यात् इह उत्तमम्rudrākṣaṃ syāt iha uttamamlet the rudrākṣa here be the very best
Translation
…with a flaw and disproportionate — let him reject six kinds of rudrākṣa. The rudrākṣa whose opening is made by itself is here the very best.
Version
e932acbf5357 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is the rule for whose sake this whole housekeeping list was worth reading: the best seed is one whose opening is svayam eva kṛtam, "made by itself." In a rudrākṣa the core sometimes grows all the way through, forming a natural channel through which the string passes. Such a one is declared best — better than a drilled one.
Stated abstractly, this rule reads: what is given is better than what is made. And in this form it is one of the root positions of every teaching about grace. The Vaiṣṇava side expresses the same in two words standing at the very opening of its definition of devotion: ahaituky apratihatā, "causeless and unobstructable" (Bhāgavatam 1.2.6). Ahaituki means literally "without cause, without basis" — that is, not brought about by anything a person did.
The distinction between the given and the made runs through this entire teaching. What is made by a person has a measure: as much as you put in, so much you get out. What is given has no measure, because nothing was put in.
The words, however, are worth weighing from another side too, lest one fall into inactivity. The book does not forbid drilling; it says the drilled is middling, and will say so directly in a moment. That is, human effort is not rejected but placed below the freely given; and this relation, to my mind, is the right one — one must work, but not imagine that work purchases everything.