Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.61
॥
Devanāgarī
नाडीपुञ्जं सदा सारं नरभावं महामुने । समुत्सृज्यात्मनात्मानमहमित्येव धारय
Transliteration (IAST)
nāḍīpuñjaṃ sadā sāraṃ narabhāvaṃ mahāmune | samutsṛjyātmanātmānamahamityeva dhāraya
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नाडी-पुञ्जं सदा सारंnāḍī-puñjaṃ sadā sāraṃthe bundle of passages, always flowing
नर-भावं महा-मुनेnara-bhāvaṃ mahā-munethe human state, O great sage
समुत्सृज्य आत्मना आत्मानम्samutsṛjya ātmanā ātmānamhaving abandoned, by the self the self
अहम् इति एव धारयaham iti eva dhārayahold as 'I'
Translation
"Having abandoned the bundle of passages, always flowing, and the human state, O great sage, — hold the self by the self, as 'I'."
Version
e039ebd6756d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
This line is curious in that it cancels the whole fourth khanda. For sixty lines the passages, their names, their deities, their placement were described. And now it is said: nadi-punjam samutsrijya, "the bundle of passages abandoned."
We met this arrangement in the third khanda, where the eight postures were described and then immediately cancelled by the permission to sit however is comfortable (3.12); and it is, apparently, a trait of such books. The order is this: first a detailed description, then an indication that what was described must be abandoned. It is worth saying that this order is not senseless, though it seems so. One can abandon only what one has; and a person who did not know of the passages cannot abandon them — he simply does not think of them.
The Vaishnava side uses this same order and calls it yukta-vairagya: renunciation of what has been mastered, not of what one never had. Let us add, however, what gives us pause in this line. It says aham iti eva dharaya, "hold as 'I'."
An identification is prescribed, then: to consider oneself the self and hold to this. The Vaishnava side knows this practice and calls it aham-graha-upasana, "worship through the seizing of oneself"; and it acknowledges it as genuine, but lowest — lowest because it ends in oneself. Its own practice is arranged the reverse way, and is stated in one word: daso'smi, "I am a servant." The difference between "I am That" and "I am Yours" is, in substance, the whole difference between the two teachings; and both statements are equally short, yet lead in opposite directions.