Upanishads · Mahāvākya p23
॥
Devanāgarī
तत्सायं प्रातः प्रयुञ्जानः पापोऽपापो भवति
Transliteration (IAST)
tatsāyaṃ prātaḥ prayuñjānaḥ pāpo'pāpo bhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत् सायं प्रातः प्रयुञ्जानःtat sāyaṃ prātaḥ prayuñjānaḥapplying it in the evening and morning
पापः अ-पापः भवतिpāpaḥ a-pāpaḥ bhavatithe sinful becomes sinless
Translation
«Applying it in the evening and morning, the sinful becomes sinless.»
Version
033393a0cde6 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The promise is the same as in the Gaṇapati (11.2), and in almost the same words; the measure of such promises has been discussed more than once. It is worth examining the phrase itself, pāpo'pāpo bhavati, “the sinful becomes sinless,” for it is built as a change of name, not of state. He was pāpa, he became apāpa: that is, what changed is what he is called.
This phrase is common in Sanskrit and denotes a change of position: as a “debtor” becomes a “non-debtor” by paying. It is worth pausing on this comparison, for it explains what such promises achieve, and what they do not. One who has paid a debt ceases to be a debtor — and this is a real change of position. But the habit of borrowing remains with him; and if he himself has not changed, he will borrow again tomorrow.
The Vaiṣṇava side draws exactly this distinction, and calls it the distinction between pāpa and pāpa-bīja, “sin and the seed of sin.” The deed is removed; the inclination remains. The image used to illustrate this was cited reading the Jābāla-darśana (4.54): an elephant, bathed and then wallowing again (Bhāgavatam 6.1.9–10).
Let us add what is said there of the remedy: the seed is burned away bhagavat-sevayā, by service — just as the sun disperses fog (6.1.15). The relation turns out thus: the rite removes the debt, service changes the inclination; and one does not replace the other, but nor does it cancel it.