Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 5.13
॥
Devanāgarī
अथवैतत्परित्यज्य स्वात्मशुद्धिं समाचरेत् । आत्मा शुद्धः सदा नित्यः सुखरूपः स्वयंप्रभः
Transliteration (IAST)
athavaitatparityajya svātmaśuddhiṃ samācaret | ātmā śuddhaḥ sadā nityaḥ sukharūpaḥ svayaṃprabhaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथवा एतत् परित्यज्यathavā etat parityajyaor else, having abandoned this
स्व-आत्म-शुद्धिं समाचरेत्sva-ātma-śuddhiṃ samācaretlet him occupy himself with the purification of his own self
आत्मा शुद्धः सदा नित्यःātmā śuddhaḥ sadā nityaḥthe self is pure, always eternal
सुख-रूपः स्वयम्-प्रभःsukha-rūpaḥ svayam-prabhaḥhaving the form of happiness, self-luminous
Translation
"Or else, having abandoned this, let him occupy himself with the purification of his own self: the self is pure, always eternal, having the form of happiness, self-luminous."
Version
259919fd5f9f · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Here is a line that cancels the whole fifth khanda, and it deserves being noted: athava etat parityajya, "or else, having abandoned this." We have already met this arrangement twice: the eight postures were cancelled by permission to sit comfortably (3.12); sixty lines on passages, by the injunction to abandon the bundle of passages (4.61). Now the purification of the passages is cancelled too.
It is worth pondering why the book is built this way, for it is no carelessness. The reason, apparently, is that before us is a compilation for different people. One comes with a body and leisure, and is given techniques; another comes with understanding alone, and is told: you may do without techniques.
The word athava, "or else," is, then, a mark of a fork in the path; and it deserves noting wherever it appears. The Vaishnava side is fond of such forks, and states its own central one with the very same word. The Yoga-sutras, having set out the whole ladder, say: ishvara-pranidhanad va, "or else — by surrender of oneself to the Lord" (1.23); and of the word va it was spoken when reading the second khanda.
Let us add something on the very definition of the self given here: shuddhah, nityah, sukha-rupah, svayam-prabhah — "pure, eternal, having the form of happiness, self-luminous." This definition the Vaishnava side accepts entirely, with one addition already discussed when reading the first khanda. The self is pure, eternal, and self-luminous — and, at the same time, mamaivamsho, "My own fragment" (Gita 15.7); that is, all the listed properties belong to it as belonging, not as self-sufficient.