Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.35
॥
Devanāgarī
आनन्दाविर्भवो यावत्तावन्मूर्धनि धारणात् । प्राणः प्रयात्यनेनैव ब्रह्मरन्ध्रं महामुने
Transliteration (IAST)
ānandāvirbhavo yāvattāvanmūrdhani dhāraṇāt | prāṇaḥ prayātyanenaiva brahmarandhraṃ mahāmune
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आनन्द-आविर्भवः यावत्ānanda-āvirbhavaḥ yāvatuntil the manifestation of bliss
तावत् मूर्धनि धारणात्tāvat mūrdhani dhāraṇātso long, from holding in the crown
प्राणः प्रयाति अनेन एवprāṇaḥ prayāti anena evaprana goes, by this very [means]
ब्रह्म-रन्ध्रं महा-मुनेbrahma-randhraṃ mahā-muneinto the brahma-aperture, O great sage
Translation
"…so long [let him hold] in the crown, until bliss manifests; by this very [means], prana goes into the brahma-aperture, O great sage."
Version
0c75ec0150e4 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The rule is again set by sign: hold until ananda, "bliss," appears. The merit of such rules has already been discussed when reading the fifth khanda: the measure is a state, not a term. It is worth saying something, however, about the word ananda itself, for it is used here as the sign of a practice, while in Vedanta it denotes the very essence of the Highest.
The Taittiriya says: anando brahmeti vyajanat, "bliss is brahman — thus he knew" (3.6); and there bliss is measured by a famous ladder: human bliss, multiplied a hundredfold, is the bliss of the gandharvas, and so on up to the bliss of Brahma (2.8). This ladder deserves examination, for it is curiously built. Bliss is measured by multiplication of the human; that is, it is presumed to be homogeneous, differing only in quantity.
The Vaishnava side objects to this, and distinguishes kinds of bliss, not merely degrees. Its books name brahma-ananda ("the bliss of brahman," that is, the peace of infinity) and prema-ananda ("the bliss of love"), and say that the second is not the first enlarged, but different in substance. It gives a ground drawn from ordinary life, and convincing for that. Peace and love are different states, not different measures of one: a person who feels well because no one troubles him, and a person who feels well because he is with someone, differ not in the quantity of their good feeling.
Hence the ladder of the Taittiriya does not satisfy it, though it acknowledges it: that ladder measures peace, and is silent about the second kind.