Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.46
॥
Devanāgarī
नष्टे पापे विशुद्धं स्याच्चित्तदर्पणमद्भुतम् । पुनर्ब्रह्मादिभोगेभ्यो वैराग्यं जयते हृदि
Transliteration (IAST)
naṣṭe pāpe viśuddhaṃ syāccittadarpaṇamadbhutam | punarbrahmādibhogebhyo vairāgyaṃ jayate hṛdi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नष्टे पापे विशुद्धं स्यात्naṣṭe pāpe viśuddhaṃ syātwhen sin has perished, pure let it be
चित्त-दर्पणम् अद्भुतम्citta-darpaṇam adbhutamthe wondrous mirror of consciousness
पुनः ब्रह्म-आदि-भोगेभ्यःpunaḥ brahma-ādi-bhogebhyaḥand again, from the enjoyments of Brahma and the rest
वैराग्यं जायते हृदिvairāgyaṃ jāyate hṛdidispassion is born in the heart
Translation
"When sin has perished, let the wondrous mirror of consciousness be pure; and again, dispassion toward the enjoyments of Brahma and the rest is born in the heart."
Version
15db20b147ef · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Consciousness is called chitta-darpana, "the mirror of consciousness"; and this image is among the most fruitful in Indian books. A mirror in itself holds nothing: it shows what is before it. Soiled, it shows distorted; pure, it shows truly.
This image explains what purification aims at: not that something new appear in consciousness, but that it stop distorting. The Vaishnava side uses the same image, and in its most famous verse of all. Chaitanya says: cheto-darpana-marjanam, "the cleansing of the mirror of consciousness" — and calls this the first effect of sankirtana, congregational chanting (Shikshashtaka 1).
This verse deserves citing more fully, for it is, in substance, its whole ladder in a single line: "Glory to the chanting of the Name, which cleanses the mirror of consciousness, extinguishes the fire of conditioned life, pours moonlight upon the lotus of happiness, is the life of the bride Knowledge, expands the ocean of bliss, grants the taste of full nectar at every step, and bathes the whole self." The order here is decisive: the cleansing of the mirror stands first, not last. Here lies the whole difference from the line here. Here, the cleansing of the mirror is a consequence of long labor: first practice, then the death of sin, then purity. There, it is the first effect of a means accessible at once.
The second half of the line — on dispassion toward enjoyments up to the world of Brahma — repeats what was said in the second khanda (2.6), where Prahlada's answer was cited; and it was noted there that dispassion toward the best comes not from drying up desire, but from the appearance of something still better.