Upanishads · Pañcabrahma 12
॥
Devanāgarī
वर्णं रक्तं कामदं च सर्वाधिव्याधिभेषजम् । सृष्टिस्थितिलयादीनां कारणं सर्वशक्तिधृक्
Transliteration (IAST)
varṇaṃ raktaṃ kāmadaṃ ca sarvādhivyādhibheṣajam | sṛṣṭisthitilayādīnāṃ kāraṇaṃ sarvaśaktidhṛk
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वर्णं रक्तं काम-दं चvarṇaṃ raktaṃ kāma-daṃ cared color, granting the desired
सर्व-अधि-व्याधि-भेषजम्sarva-adhi-vyādhi-bheṣajama remedy for all afflictions of mind and body
सृष्टि-स्थिति-लय-आदीनांsṛṣṭi-sthiti-laya-ādīnāṃof creation, preservation, dissolution, and the rest
कारणं सर्व-शक्ति-धृक्kāraṇaṃ sarva-śakti-dhṛkthe cause, holding all powers
Translation
"Red color, granting the desired, a remedy for all afflictions of mind and body; the cause of creation, preservation, dissolution, and the rest, holding all powers."
Version
10a10d3e3b77 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
It is worth noting the word adhi-vyādhi, "afflictions of mind and body." Adhi means "care, anxiety, mental pain"; vyādhi, "bodily illness." Together they encompass everything a person suffers from.
This distinction is ancient in Indian books and is worth noting, for it is drawn more sharply there than we are accustomed to. Sufferings are counted in three: ādhyātmika (from oneself — illness, anxiety), ādhibhautika (from other beings — people, animals), ādhidaivika (from the elements — drought, earthquake). This list covers everything; and the Bhāgavatam, at the very start of its exposition, places it right at the beginning: the book's purpose is deliverance from the three sufferings.
It is worth saying, however, about the difference between two ways of delivering, for it shows here. Here the face is called a remedy: it removes the affliction. The Vaiṣṇava side, on this point, says something different, and it is worth voicing directly, because it is less pleasant and more honest.
She does not promise that there will be no suffering. Kuntī directly asks for misfortunes (Bhāgavatam 1.8.25); devotees in her books fall ill and endure, as was discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (6.45). What she promises is something else: that suffering will cease to be what it was. The trouble is not canceled, but its meaning is; and a person who has someone to turn to bears the very same thing differently than one who has no one.