Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.45
॥
Devanāgarī
भगन्दरं च नष्टं स्यात्सर्वरोगाश्च सांकृते । पातकानि विनश्यन्ति क्षुद्राणि च महान्ति च
Transliteration (IAST)
bhagandaraṃ ca naṣṭaṃ syātsarvarogāśca sāṃkṛte | pātakāni vinaśyanti kṣudrāṇi ca mahānti ca
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
भगन्दरं च नष्टं स्यात्bhagandaraṃ ca naṣṭaṃ syātand let the fistula perish
सर्व-रोगाः च सांकृतेsarva-rogāḥ ca sāṃkṛteand all diseases, O Sankriti
पातकानि विनश्यन्तिpātakāni vinaśyantisins perish
क्षुद्राणि च महान्ति चkṣudrāṇi ca mahānti caboth small and great
Translation
"And let the fistula perish, and all diseases, O Sankriti; sins perish, both small and great."
Version
3291e9f52fdb · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line joins fistula and great sins in one list; and this pairing deserves examination, for it shows the structure of the thought. Disease and sin are placed side by side as the same kind of thing: both are a corruption, and both are removed by the same means. This view is universal in antiquity and held for a long time; it has not died out even now, for everyone wants to think that disease has a moral cause.
Let us say directly how it is harmful. It makes the sick person guilty; and a person in pain receives, on top of the pain, the suspicion that he deserved it. The Vaishnava side does not share this view, and has testimony for this in persons, worth citing.
The Bhagavatam tells of great devotees who suffered: Prahlada was tormented, Dhruva wept, the Pandavas lived in exile, Kunti asked for troubles. In not one case is the suffering explained by guilt. More than that, Kunti says the exact opposite directly: troubles are prayed for, for in them there can be a vision (1.8.25); and this is no longer a punishment, but a condition of meeting.
Let us add the distinction its books draw, which removes the whole awkwardness. The consequences of the past, karma, do indeed exist; but for one who has surrendered, they are, by its word, diminished — a small thing remains instead of a great one, as a trace of a dream remains instead of the trouble itself. Understood this way, the sick person is not the guilty one; he is one in whom the past lives out its course, and in a lightened form at that.