Upanishads · Tārasāra 1.5
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ हैनं भारद्वाजः पप्रच्छ याज्ञवल्क्यं किं तारकम् । किं तारयतीति
Transliteration (IAST)
atha hainaṃ bhāradvājaḥ papraccha yājñavalkyaṃ kiṃ tārakam | kiṃ tārayatīti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ ह एनं भारद्वाजः पप्रच्छatha ha enaṃ bhāradvājaḥ papracchaand now Bhāradvāja questioned him
याज्ञवल्क्यं किं तारकम्yājñavalkyaṃ kiṃ tārakamYājñavalkya: what is the ferrying [thing]
किं तारयति इतिkiṃ tārayati itiwhat does it ferry
Translation
«And now Bhāradvāja questioned Yājñavalkya: what is the ferrying [thing]? what does it ferry?»
Version
5f6383b4dfac · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Two questions are asked, and it is worth distinguishing them, for they are not about the same thing. The first: kiṃ tārakam, "what is the ferrying thing" — that is, what it is like. The second: kiṃ tārayati, "what does it ferry" — that is, whom or what it carries across.
The second question is subtler and deserves attention. It is not asked "to where does it ferry" and not "across what," but what exactly is ferried. This question, on reflection, is the question of what remains. The body is not ferried — it stays here. The mind is not ferried — it is part of matter. So there is a third thing; and the question of it is the chief question of all these books.
The Vaiṣṇava side answers it definitely, and its answer deserves citing. What is ferried is the jīva, "the living being," called in the Gītā mamaivāṃśo, "My own eternal fragment" (15.7); and it is said there too that on departure it carries away with it the senses and mind, "as the wind carries fragrances from their place" (15.8). This image deserves examination, for it is precise. Fragrance is neither the flower nor the wind; it is carried by the wind away from the flower. So too the departing being carries away with it not the body, but the accumulated character of mind and inclinations.
This position explains, too, why these books insist so strongly on remembrance during life: what is carried away is not what a person knew, but what he was occupied with.