Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.48
॥
Devanāgarī
ज्ञानामृतरसो येन सकृदास्वादितो भवेत् । स सर्वकार्यमुत्सृज्य तत्रैव परिधावति
Transliteration (IAST)
jñānāmṛtaraso yena sakṛdāsvādito bhavet | sa sarvakāryamutsṛjya tatraiva paridhāvati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ज्ञान-अमृत-रसः येनjñāna-amṛta-rasaḥ yenathe taste of the nectar of knowledge, by whom
सकृत् आस्वादितः भवेत्sakṛt āsvāditaḥ bhavetonce tasted, it will have been
सः सर्व-कार्यम् उत्सृज्यsaḥ sarva-kāryam utsṛjyathat one, abandoning every task
तत्र एव परिधावतिtatra eva paridhāvatirushes to that very place
Translation
"The one by whom the taste of the nectar of knowledge has once been tasted — that one, abandoning every task, rushes to that very place."
Version
37bd9998813e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A fine line, deserving examination, for it describes exactly what was discussed when reading the sixteenth line: the change after which one no longer needs to force oneself. It is said sakrit asvaditah, "tasted once." Once is enough.
This observation is true and familiar to anyone from ordinary things. A person who has tasted something good can no longer be satisfied with something bad; and no argument works here as well as a single taste. The word rasa, "taste," deserves separate comment, for it is central in Vaishnava literature.
Rasa means both "sap," "taste," and "feeling"; and the teaching on relations with God is called, in it, rasa-tattva, "the science of taste." Its ground is a verse of the Taittiriya: raso vai sah, "He is taste; having obtained taste, a person becomes blissful" (2.7). This verse deserves being held on to, for it defines the whole cast of its teaching. It is not said "He gives taste" and not said "He is known"; it is said — He is taste.
That is, relation to Him is described not as knowledge of an object, but as tasting; and hence its whole literature is so occupied with nuances of feeling that it strikes an outsider as excessive. The difference from the line here is a single word. Here what is tasted is jnana-amrita, "the nectar of knowledge"; there — He Himself. And the difference between the taste of knowledge and the taste of a Person is exactly the difference between the pleasure of having understood and the joy of a meeting.