Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 1.23
॥
Devanāgarī
पञ्च ब्रह्मभिरङ्गैशच त्रिमाला पञ्च सप्त च । ग्रथित्वा मूलमन्त्रेण सर्वाण्यक्षाणि धारयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
pañca brahmabhiraṅgaiśaca trimālā pañca sapta ca | grathitvā mūlamantreṇa sarvāṇyakṣāṇi dhārayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पञ्च ब्रह्मभिः अङ्गैः चpañca brahmabhiḥ aṅgaiḥ cawith the five brahman-mantras and their parts
त्रि-माला पञ्च सप्त चtri-mālā pañca sapta cathree garlands, five, and seven
ग्रथित्वा मूल-मन्त्रेणgrathitvā mūla-mantreṇahaving strung them with the root mantra
सर्वाणि अक्षाणि धारयेत्sarvāṇi akṣāṇi dhārayetlet him wear all the seeds
Translation
With the five brahman-mantras and their parts — three garlands, five, and seven; having strung them with the root mantra, let him wear all the seeds.
Version
e4142bbcfd71 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first half of the book ends with the word mūla-mantra, "root mantra," and it is worth pausing on this word. Mūla means "root." The root mantra is the chief mantra of a deity, from which the others are derived as branches from a trunk; for Śaivas this is the pañca-akṣara, the five syllables "namaḥ śivāya," of which the book will speak in the third part.
It is worth noting that the stringing is described as an act done with a word: not "string it, and then consecrate it," but "having strung it with the root mantra" — that is, the word is uttered within the work itself. This is, to my mind, the best thing ritual books say about craft at all. Work is not separated from prayer, nor replaced by it; one works by prayer.
The Vaiṣṇava side expresses the same thing as a rule addressed to a whole life: "whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give, whatever austerity you perform — do it as an offering to Me" (Gītā 9.27). The list is deliberately composed of ordinary things, and nothing in it is specifically of the temple. The consequence here matters more than the whole mapping just read. If work can be done prayerfully, then the distinction between ritual time and the rest of time stops being decisive; and with it falls the chief reproach made against ritual books — that they allot God an hour a day and rest content with that.