Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 5.10
॥
Devanāgarī
त्रिचतुर्वासरं वाथ त्रिचतुर्वारमेव च । षट्कृत्वा विचरेन्नित्यं रहस्येवं त्रिसन्धिषु
Transliteration (IAST)
tricaturvāsaraṃ vātha tricaturvārameva ca | ṣaṭkṛtvā vicarennityaṃ rahasyevaṃ trisandhiṣu
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
त्रि-चतुर्-वासरं वा अथtri-catur-vāsaraṃ vā athathree or four days, or else
त्रि-चतुर्-वारम् एव चtri-catur-vāram eva cathree or four times
षट्-कृत्वा विचरेत् नित्यंṣaṭ-kṛtvā vicaret nityaṃsixfold, let him practice always
रहसि एवं त्रि-सन्धिषुrahasi evaṃ tri-sandhiṣuin secret, thus, at the three junctures
Translation
"For three or four days, or three or four times, sixfold, let him always practice, in secret, thus, at the three junctures."
Version
322847c8e436 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A measure is set: several repetitions, three times a day — at dawn, at midday, and at dusk. The three junctures, tri-sandhi, are the very twilights spoken of when reading the forty-second line of the preceding khanda; and it is at these that the ordinary sandhya, the brahmin's daily prayer, is also performed. Worth noting is that the practice is inserted into an already-existing routine. No new time is set aside: the very hours in which a person already prays are taken.
This detail speaks to the compiler's practical mind. A new occupation, requiring new time, is poorly adopted; one inserted into an established routine takes hold. The Vaishnava side does the same, and its brahma-muhurta, the hour before dawn, is the very same device: a time already free is taken.
The word rahasi, "in secret," deserves separate comment. The secrecy here is, apparently, not sectarian — not the concealment from the unworthy discussed in the Ganapati — but the simple necessity of not being on display. A person practicing before witnesses inevitably begins to perform not the practice, but a role.
This observation holds true in more important matters too. The Gita says of austerity performed sat-kara-mana-pujartham, "for the sake of respect, honor, and worship," that it is rajasa, "passionate," and its fruit "unstable and impermanent" (17.18). Hence the rule "in secret" is not so much a rule of concealment as a protection against oneself: what is done without witnesses cannot be done for show.