Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.26
॥
Devanāgarī
जिह्वया वायुमाकृष्य जिह्वामूले निरोधयेत् । पिबेदमृतमव्यग्रं सकलं सुखमाप्नुयात्
Transliteration (IAST)
jihvayā vāyumākṛṣya jihvāmūle nirodhayet | pibedamṛtamavyagraṃ sakalaṃ sukhamāpnuyāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जिह्वया वायुम् आकृष्यjihvayā vāyum ākṛṣyahaving drawn in wind with the tongue
जिह्वा-मूले निरोधयेत्jihvā-mūle nirodhayetlet him hold it at the root of the tongue
पिबेत् अमृतम् अ-व्यग्रंpibet amṛtam a-vyagraṃlet him drink the nectar without haste
सकलं सुखम् आप्नुयात्sakalaṃ sukham āpnuyātand obtain every happiness
Translation
"Having drawn in wind with the tongue, let him hold it at the root of the tongue; let him drink the nectar without haste, and obtain every happiness."
Version
861acd205651 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is the word avyagram, "without haste," literally "not being scattered": vyagra means "dispersed, occupied with many things, agitated." It is prescribed, then, to drink unhurriedly. This detail, for all its smallness, is, in my view, the best thing in this line. It points to what spoils any such undertaking most often — haste.
Haste in spiritual matters is a peculiar flaw, and it deserves naming. A person who has taken up a practice usually wants a result, and hence does it faster, more often, and in greater quantity; while everything listed here requires exactly the opposite. The Vaishnava side has its own word for this, and places it among its list of six hindrances: prayasa, "excessive effort" (Upadeshamrita 2). This was discussed when reading the fifth khanda.
It adds a second, from the same list: laulyam, "instability, greed" — that is, the tendency to grasp at many things and change methods. The combination of these two hindrances — haste and grasping — is, by common testimony, the most usual state of a beginner; and there is one remedy for it, and it is a dull one: do a little, and for a long time. The word amrita, "nectar," discussed when reading the fifth khanda, here again means the moisture supposedly dripping from above; and the difference between this nectar and what its books call by the same word has already been stated there.