Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.36
॥
Devanāgarī
ब्रह्मरन्ध्रं गते वायौ नादश्चोत्पद्यतेऽनघ । शङ्खध्वनिनिभश्चादौ मध्ये मेघध्वनिर्यथा
Transliteration (IAST)
brahmarandhraṃ gate vāyau nādaścotpadyate'nagha | śaṅkhadhvaninibhaścādau madhye meghadhvaniryathā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ब्रह्म-रन्ध्रं गते वायौbrahma-randhraṃ gate vāyauwhen the wind has gone into the brahma-aperture
नादः च उत्पद्यते अनघnādaḥ ca utpadyate anaghaa resonance too arises, O sinless one
शङ्ख-ध्वनि-निभः च आदौśaṅkha-dhvani-nibhaḥ ca ādauresembling the sound of a conch at first
मध्ये मेघ-ध्वनिः यथाmadhye megha-dhvaniḥ yathāin the middle, however, like the thunder of a cloud
Translation
"When the wind has gone into the brahma-aperture, a resonance too arises, O sinless one: at first resembling the sound of a conch, in the middle like the thunder of a cloud."
Version
2b89385d9ab3 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The description of nada, "the inner resonance," begins — a subject to which whole works are devoted in books on yoga. The description proceeds by crescendo: first like a conch, then like thunder, then (in the next line) like a mountain torrent. It must be said that this phenomenon is not invented. Anyone who closes his ears in silence will hear ringing and noise; and a person who sits motionless a long time hears them more distinctly.
Books on yoga have charted these sounds by rank and made a ladder of them: from which sound is heard, one's progress is judged. It is worth noting, however, a difficulty discussed when reading the fifth khanda, which becomes acute here. These sounds are verifiable by no one. What a person hears within himself, he alone knows; and to distinguish genuine experience from an expectation inflamed by reading is impossible, for him or for anyone else.
The danger here is that one who has read the description will hear exactly what is described. This observation is universal in inner matters: what is expected appears. For this reason the Vaishnava side sets no inner signs, and counts as its own those visible from outside: a diminishing of the pull toward everything else, tears, a trembling voice, an inability to continue speaking (Bhagavatam 11.14.24).
These signs too can be faked, and it knows this; but faking them before others is harder than hearing a resonance within oneself. And hence its measure, for all its coarseness, is more reliable.