Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.22
॥
Devanāgarī
शङ्खिनी नाम या नाडी सव्यकर्णान्तमिष्यते । गान्धारा सव्यनेत्रान्ता प्रोक्ता वेदान्तवेदिभिः
Transliteration (IAST)
śaṅkhinī nāma yā nāḍī savyakarṇāntamiṣyate | gāndhārā savyanetrāntā proktā vedāntavedibhiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शङ्खिनी नाम या नाडीśaṅkhinī nāma yā nāḍīthe passage by the name of shankhini
सव्य-कर्ण-अन्तम् इष्यतेsavya-karṇa-antam iṣyatereaches to the left ear
गान्धारा सव्य-नेत्र-अन्ताgāndhārā savya-netra-antāgandhara, ending at the left eye
प्रोक्ता वेदान्त-वेदिभिःproktā vedānta-vedibhiḥis named by knowers of Vedanta
Translation
"The passage by the name of shankhini reaches to the left ear; gandhara, ending at the left eye, is named by knowers of Vedanta."
Version
a08adc747d48 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list is finished. Let us sum it up, for the book will now change its subject. The fourteen passages have been placed and led out to the openings: to the nostrils, ears, eyes, tongue, to the toes, to the anus. That is, the network embraces every outward opening.
Here the design of the whole scheme becomes visible, and it deserves being stated, for without it this whole section looks like a dead list. A person, by this description, is a center with radiating paths, and everything within him drains outward through these paths. The senses do not merely receive — they also expend.
Hence the whole meaning of pratyahara, "drawing back," which will be the fifth rung: not to plug the outlets, but to turn the current inward. The Vaishnava side does not deny this description, and shares this observation; but from it draws not a turning inward, but a change of direction. The Bhagavatam says: sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokshaje, "the highest law for humans is that from which arises devotion to the One beyond the senses," and adds — ahaituki apratihata yenatma suprasidati, "causeless and unobstructable, by which the self becomes fully satisfied" (1.2.6).
The word suprasidati, "becomes fully satisfied," settles it here. The outward drain does not stop by a plug or a reversal, but by being filled; and the hungry person stops reaching for food not when his hands are tied, but when he has eaten.