Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.9
॥
Devanāgarī
तासां मुख्यतमास्तिस्रस्तिसृष्वेकोत्तमोत्तमा । ब्रह्मनाडीति सा प्रोक्ता मुने वेदान्तवेदिभिः
Transliteration (IAST)
tāsāṃ mukhyatamāstisrastisṛṣvekottamottamā | brahmanāḍīti sā proktā mune vedāntavedibhiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तासां मुख्य-तमाः तिस्रःtāsāṃ mukhya-tamāḥ tisraḥof them, the chief-most are three
तिसृषु एका उत्तम-उत्तमाtisṛṣu ekā uttama-uttamāof the three, one is the very best
ब्रह्म-नाडी इति सा प्रोक्ताbrahma-nāḍī iti sā proktāthe brahma-passage, it is named
मुने वेदान्त-वेदिभिःmune vedānta-vedibhiḥO sage, by knowers of Vedanta
Translation
"Of them, the chief-most are three; of the three, one is the very best; it is named the brahma-passage, O sage, by knowers of Vedanta."
Version
3f4b164db5b1 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Of the fourteen, three are singled out, and of the three, one, named brahma-nadi, "the brahma-passage." This arrangement — a circle within a circle, with one chosen at each rung — we have already met in the Bhasma-jabala, where the places of Kashi likewise narrowed. And there it was said that narrowing concentrates and, at the same time, excludes.
Here it concentrates and excludes no one, for the discourse is of one's own body, not of people; and so the device is harmless here. Worth examining is the name itself. Brahma-nadi is the passage leading to the brahma-randhra, "the brahma-aperture" — an opening at the crown of the head, through which, by this teaching, the soul of a yogi departs at death.
This notion is ancient in Indian books and tied to the teaching of two paths of the departed. The Gita sets it out: those who depart "in fire, in light, by day, in the bright half of the month, in the six months of the northern course" go to brahman and do not return; those who depart "in smoke, by night, in the dark half" reach the light of the moon and return (8.24–26). The Vaishnava side knows this teaching and cites it, but immediately lifts its obligatory force, and it is worth seeing exactly how. That same eighth chapter says: "one who, at the hour of departure, leaving the body, remembers Me, goes to My being — of this there is no doubt" (8.5); and no condition about the season, the half of the month, or the hour of the day is set there.
The difference here is decisive and deserves stating. The path along the passages depends on structure and circumstance: the channel must be purified, the hour must be right. The path of remembrance depends on whom one remembers; and Ajamila, already spoken of, was not dying in the northern half of the year, nor in the bright half of the month.