Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 7.9
॥
Devanāgarī
प्रत्याहारोऽयमुक्तस्तु प्रत्याहारस्मरैः पुरा । एवमभ्यासयुक्तस्य पुरुषस्य महात्मनः
Transliteration (IAST)
pratyāhāro'yamuktastu pratyāhārasmaraiḥ purā | evamabhyāsayuktasya puruṣasya mahātmanaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
प्रत्याहारः अयम् उक्तः तुpratyāhāraḥ ayam uktaḥ tuthis withdrawal has been stated
प्रत्याहार-स्मरैः पुराpratyāhāra-smaraiḥ purāby those who remembered withdrawal before
एवम् अभ्यास-युक्तस्यevam abhyāsa-yuktasyathus, for one joined with such practice
पुरुषस्य महा-आत्मनःpuruṣasya mahā-ātmanaḥa man of great soul
Translation
"This withdrawal has been stated thus, by those who remembered withdrawal before; for such a man of great soul, joined with this practice…"
Version
a01d15879607 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line refers to predecessors: pura, "before," and pratyahara-smaraih, "by those who remembered withdrawal." This reference deserves attention, for it shows how these books understand themselves. The compiler does not claim novelty. He says: it was called so before; I am transmitting it.
This relation to teaching — as received, not invented — is universal in Indian literature and determines its whole cast. Hence there are no authors here in our sense: there are rishis, "those who have seen," and there are those who transmit. The Vaishnava side stands on this especially firmly, and its usual definition of its own teaching is parampara-praptam, "received by succession" (Gita 4.2).
Let us add what follows from such a relation, for the consequences here are twofold. The good consequence: the teaching is not reworked to suit oneself. One who considers himself a transmitter will not improve what was handed down according to his own taste; and this preserves the content from corruption.
The burdensome consequence: it is hard to correct an error. If something wrong is contained in what was handed down — say, a birth-based prohibition, already discussed more than once — the transmitter feels he has no right to cancel it. The Vaishnava teachers found a way out of this difficulty and used it: not to cancel, but to point to another place in the same tradition. This is what Chaitanya did, setting above caste-based injunctions the word that even a shudra can be a teacher; and this is what we too do, reading these books.