Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.54
॥
Devanāgarī
चित्तमन्तर्गतं दुष्टं तीर्थस्नानैर्न शुद्ध्यति । शतशोऽपि जलैर्धौतं सुराभाण्डमिवशुचि
Transliteration (IAST)
cittamantargataṃ duṣṭaṃ tīrthasnānairna śuddhyati | śataśo'pi jalairdhautaṃ surābhāṇḍamivaśuci
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
चित्तम् अन्तः-गतं दुष्टंcittam antaḥ-gataṃ duṣṭaṃconsciousness corrupted within
तीर्थ-स्नानैः न शुद्ध्यतिtīrtha-snānaiḥ na śuddhyatiis not purified by bathing in holy places
शतशः अपि जलैः धौतंśataśaḥ api jalaiḥ dhautaṃeven if washed a hundred times with water
सुरा-भाण्डम् इव अ-शुचिsurā-bhāṇḍam iva a-śucilike a vessel that held liquor — impure
Translation
"Consciousness corrupted within is not purified by bathing in holy places: even if washed a hundred times with water, like a vessel that held liquor, it remains impure."
Version
c0d49aacd5b9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An excellent comparison, worth remembering: a wine vessel, washed a hundred times, still smells. Its precision lies in pointing to saturation. The matter is not the dirt on the surface, which is washed away; the matter is that the substance has soaked into the walls.
So too with a person: deeds are washed away, the inclination remains. The Vaishnava side says exactly this and uses its own comparison, already mentioned: the elephant who bathed and at once rolled in dust again (Bhagavatam 6.1.9–10). Both images speak of the same thing.
It is worth carrying the thought to its end, however, which this line does not do. If saturation is not washed away, by what is it removed? The book's own answer will be: by knowledge. The Vaishnava answer is different, and the difference here is not abstract.
The Bhagavatam continues that very passage about the elephant and says: atonements will not do, for they "do not burn out the seed of desire"; and it is burned out by bhagavat-sevaya, service to the Lord — "as the sun disperses fog" (6.1.15). The image is deliberately changed here, and this deserves noting. The discourse is no longer of washing: fog is not washed away, it disperses of itself, when the sun rises.
The difference between the two ways of purification deserves stating. Washing is work upon the dirt, and the more of it there is, the harder the work. Dispersal is a consequence of the appearance of something else; and here the quantity of dirt plays no role — hence the stories of great sinners in its books end just as swiftly.