Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 1.22
॥
Devanāgarī
ज्ञानशौचं परित्यज्य बाह्ये यो रमते नरः । स मूढः काञ्चनं त्यक्त्वा लोष्टं गृह्णाति सुव्रत
Transliteration (IAST)
jñānaśaucaṃ parityajya bāhye yo ramate naraḥ | sa mūḍhaḥ kāñcanaṃ tyaktvā loṣṭaṃ gṛhṇāti suvrata
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ज्ञान-शौचं परित्यज्यjñāna-śaucaṃ parityajyahaving abandoned the purity of knowledge
बाह्ये यः रमते नरःbāhye yaḥ ramate naraḥwho delights in the external, that man
सः मूढः काञ्चनं त्यक्त्वाsaḥ mūḍhaḥ kāñcanaṃ tyaktvāis a fool: having thrown away gold
लोष्टं गृह्णाति सु-व्रतloṣṭaṃ gṛhṇāti su-vratatakes up a clod of earth, O one true to his vow
Translation
"Having abandoned the purity of knowledge, whoever delights in the external — that man is a fool: having thrown away gold, he takes up a clod of earth, O one true to his vow."
Version
c386619eeecd · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The comparison is simple and forceful: to throw away gold and pick up a clod of earth. Yet it deserves examining against what this is aimed, for it is easy to overreach here. It is aimed not against washing as such, but against ramate, "delights." This word means "takes pleasure, is amused"; and what is condemned is one who is satisfied with the external and has stopped there.
This distinction deserves holding on to, or else one arrives at contempt for every observance — and such contempt has appeared in the history of every tradition, always ending badly. The Vaishnava side has worked out this position and given it names. The first extreme it calls phalgu-vairagya, "false renunciation" — rejecting things fit for service merely because they are things. The second extreme — prakrita, "materiality" — contentment with ritual in the absence of substance.
The middle is called yukta-vairagya, "fitting renunciation," and its rule is stated simply: use everything that is useful for Him, and do not become attached to what is not useful. Hence its practice observes rites, but does not consider them sufficient in themselves; and a person who carefully performs the rule without a changed heart is called, in it, kanishtha, "lowest in capacity" (Bhagavatam 11.2.47) — that is, not rejected, but placed on the first rung. This definition is, in my view, fairer than the sharpness of this verse. One who has washed and stopped there is not a fool who picked up a clod of earth; he is a person who has taken the small and not yet learned there is a greater.