Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.32
॥
Devanāgarī
उदान ऊर्ध्वगमनं करोत्येव न संशयः । व्यानो विवादकृत्प्रोक्तो मुने वेदान्तवेदिभिः
Transliteration (IAST)
udāna ūrdhvagamanaṃ karotyeva na saṃśayaḥ | vyāno vivādakṛtprokto mune vedāntavedibhiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
उदानः ऊर्ध्व-गमनंudānaḥ ūrdhva-gamanaṃudana produces ascent
करोति एव न संशयःkaroti eva na saṃśayaḥindeed, no doubt
व्यानः विवाद-कृत् प्रोक्तःvyānaḥ vivāda-kṛt proktaḥvyana is called productive of discord
मुने वेदान्त-वेदिभिःmune vedānta-vedibhiḥO sage, by knowers of Vedanta
Translation
"Udana indeed produces ascent, no doubt; vyana is called, O sage, by knowers of Vedanta, productive of discord."
Version
8c7fd6dc5645 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Two functions, and both deserve examination. Udana produces urdhva-gamana, "ascent" — that is, by this teaching, it is by udana that the soul departs upward at death; of the exit through the crown, we spoke when reading the ninth line. Vyana is called vivada-krit, "productive of discord," and this is unexpected.
The word vivada means "dispute, strife, litigation." Why discord is ascribed to the distributing breath, the book does not explain; commentators suppose it means the disorder that occurs when the powers of the body pull in different directions. This explanation is plausible, and it is worth pausing on the subject itself, for it matters more than the detail.
A person is many-voiced — this is the observation behind the word. Within him is not one voice, but several, and they dispute: one wants to sleep, another to work, a third to forgive, a fourth to take revenge. This observation is present throughout the Upanishads and forms, in substance, the cause of all their unease. The Gita speaks of this directly: "the mind is restless, O Krishna, turbulent, powerful, and obstinate; to restrain it, I think, is as hard as [restraining] the wind" (6.34).
The Vaishnava side, against this many-voicedness, proposes not the suppression of the voices, but ekanta, "single-directedness," and states this in one of its central verses: vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana, bahu-shakha hy anantash cha buddhayo'vyavasayinam — "the understanding of the resolute is single, O joy of the Kurus; but the understandings of the irresolute are many-branched and endless" (Gita 2.41). This verse deserves remembering. Many-branchedness comes not from weakness of mind, but from irresolution: as long as the chief thing has not been chosen, all voices are equal, and their dispute is endless of necessity.