Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.8
॥
Devanāgarī
अलम्बुसा कुहुश्चैव विश्वोदरी तपस्विनी । शङ्खिनी चैव गान्धारा इति मुख्याश्चतुर्दश
Transliteration (IAST)
alambusā kuhuścaiva viśvodarī tapasvinī | śaṅkhinī caiva gāndhārā iti mukhyāścaturdaśa
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अलम्बुसा कुहुः च एवalambusā kuhuḥ ca evaalambusa and kuhu likewise
विश्वोदरी तपस्विनीviśvodarī tapasvinīvishvodari, tapasvini
शङ्खिनी च एव गान्धाराśaṅkhinī ca eva gāndhārāshankhini and likewise gandhara
इति मुख्याः चतुर्दशiti mukhyāḥ caturdaśathus the fourteen chief ones
Translation
"…alambusa and kuhu likewise, vishvodari, tapasvini, shankhini and likewise gandhara — thus the fourteen chief ones."
Version
e59fce442510 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list is complete, and it is worth saying about it what can be said in substance, rather than by names. In the lines that follow, the fourteen passages will be set in their places — this one to the left, that one to the right, a third between the first and second — and a detailed scheme will result. The question that arises here, and that deserves being asked honestly, is: what use is all this to one going toward liberation?
The book's own answer will be given below: to purify the passages by breath and bring breath into the middle one. That is, the scheme is needed as a map for the work. This answer is legitimate, and there is no need to dispute it. It is only worth noting what it does not assert: it does not assert that without such a map it cannot be done.
The Vaishnava side holds precisely to this, and its reasoning is drawn from everyday life. The heart beats in anyone who knows nothing of blood circulation; food is digested by one who has never studied digestion. An arrangement that functions of itself does not require conscious governance — and to demand this is to take upon oneself work that is done without us.
Hence its own list of means — hearing, chanting, remembrance, service to the feet, worship, prostration, service, friendship, surrender of oneself (Bhagavatam 7.5.23) — contains not one item for which knowledge of one's own inner structure would be needed. This consideration, it should be said, is no objection to yoga. It is an indication that before us are two different paths, of which one requires preparation and leisure, and the other does not; and that the choice between them should be made according to one's own circumstances, not the beauty of the descriptions.