Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 2.11
॥
Devanāgarī
गुरुणा चोपदिष्टोऽपि तत्र संबन्धवर्जितः । वेदोक्तेनैव मार्गेण मन्त्राभ्यासो जपः स्मृतः
Transliteration (IAST)
guruṇā copadiṣṭo'pi tatra saṃbandhavarjitaḥ | vedoktenaiva mārgeṇa mantrābhyāso japaḥ smṛtaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
गुरुणा च उपदिष्टः अपिguruṇā ca upadiṣṭaḥ apiand taught by the teacher
तत्र संबन्ध-वर्जितःtatra saṃbandha-varjitaḥthere, free of self-interested attachment
वेद-उक्तेन एव मार्गेणveda-uktena eva mārgeṇaby the very path prescribed by the Veda
मन्त्र-अभ्यासः जपः स्मृतःmantra-abhyāsaḥ japaḥ smṛtaḥpractice of the mantra is known as repetition
Translation
"Practice of the mantra taught by the teacher, [performed] free of self-interested attachment, by the very path prescribed by the Veda, is known as repetition."
Version
9881aae7dd55 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Three conditions are set for repetition, and they deserve examining separately. The first: guruna upadishtah, "taught by the teacher." The necessity of transmission was spoken of when reading the Rudraksha-jabala, and there is no need to repeat it.
The second: sambandha-varjitah. The word sambandha means "connection, relation, attachment"; here it is understood as attachment to self-interested calculation: repeating without extracting anything for oneself. The third: veda-uktena margen, "by the prescribed path," that is, by rule, not as one pleases.
The second condition is the chief one, and deserves pausing on. Repetition performed with an eye to its fruit is, by the general reckoning of all these books, repetition of the lowest order; and we have already met, in the Ganapati, the promise that a thousand repetitions grants any wish. Here the opposite is said, and this is to the book's credit.
The Vaishnava side sets out the same order through its own ladder, worth citing, for it gives the distinction names. Nama-aparadha — repetition with offenses; nama-abhasa — "a reflection of the Name," careless repetition or repetition with calculation; shuddha-nama — the pure Name, repeated with no purpose beyond the repetition itself. What is remarkable and worth noting: even nama-abhasa, the reflection, is acknowledged as effective. Ajamila called his son and was released; that is, careless repetition is not rejected, but named the lowest rung of the very same thing.
This relation is, in my view, more merciful than the one here. Here, calculated repetition is treated as if it were not repetition at all. There, it is counted — but counted as a beginning, not an end.