Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 2.2
॥
Devanāgarī
द्विवक्त्रं तु मुनिश्रेष्ठ चार्धनारीश्वरात्मकम् । धारणादर्धनारीशः प्रीयते तस्य नित्यशः
Transliteration (IAST)
dvivaktraṃ tu muniśreṣṭha cārdhanārīśvarātmakam | dhāraṇādardhanārīśaḥ prīyate tasya nityaśaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
द्वि-वक्त्रं तु मुनि-श्रेष्ठdvi-vaktraṃ tu muni-śreṣṭhabut the two-faced, O best of sages
अर्ध-नारी-ईश्वर-आत्मकम्ardha-nārī-īśvara-ātmakamhas the being of Ardhanārīśvara
धारणात् अर्ध-नारी-ईशःdhāraṇāt ardha-nārī-īśaḥfrom wearing, Ardhanārīśa
प्रीयते तस्य नित्यशःprīyate tasya nityaśaḥis pleased by it always
Translation
The two-faced, O best of sages, has the being of Ardhanārīśvara; from wearing it, Ardhanārīśa is always pleased by it.
Version
86cf21d23ba0 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is the line the previous one was pointing to: prīyate tasya nityaśaḥ, "is always pleased by it." The verb prī, "to be pleased, to rejoice," requires two: the one who is pleased and the one by whom. It is not reflexive and has no impersonal use; to say "pleased" without implying two is impossible.
Hence this line weighs more in the dispute than it seems to. The previous line had merging; this one has pleasure; and both stand in one list, written by one hand. The Vaiṣṇava side builds its objection to a difference-canceling reading on exactly this, and its argument is simple. Sayings of unity and sayings of relationship are scattered through the very same books, intermixed; and any interpretation is obliged to explain both kinds, not to pick the convenient one.
A reading that preserves difference explains both easily: merging is an image of closeness, and pleasure is the substance of the matter. A reading that cancels difference cannot explain the second kind except by declaring it an accommodation for the incapable — and that is no longer explanation but dismissal. Ardhanārīśvara himself, "the lord half-wife," deserves a word of his own. This form — half male, half female — depicts the fact that two are one without ceasing to be two; and, curiously, this very image is the best objection to dissolution.
The Vaiṣṇava side has its own corresponding image and holds it above the rest. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are called by it one being in two bodies; and this definition — "one, and not one" — is exactly what it calls acintya-bheda-abheda, "inconceivable difference-and-non-difference."