Upanishads · Varāha 5.59
॥
Devanāgarī
एवमभ्यासचित्तश्चेत्समुक्तो नात्र संशयः । कुम्भकेन समारोप्य कुम्भकेन पूरयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
evamabhyāsacittaścetsamukto nātra saṃśayaḥ | kumbhakena samāropya kumbhakena pūrayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एवम् अभ्यास-चित्तः चेत्evam abhyāsa-cittaḥ cetif the mind, from this practice, becomes so
सम्-उक्तः न अत्र संशयःsam-uktaḥ na atra saṃśayaḥit is united — no doubt in this
कुम्भकेन समारोप्यkumbhakena samāropyahaving raised it by retention
कुम्भकेन पूरयेत्kumbhakena pūrayetby retention let him fill it
Translation
"If the mind, from this practice, becomes so, it is united — there is no doubt in this; having raised it by retention, by retention let him fill it."
Version
f534c51f1eb2 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting the phrase natra samshayah, "there is no doubt in this." This phrase is constant in Indian books and serves to seal what has been said: it is how a full stop is set down. Let us add, however, what deserves saying of the phrase itself, for in these books it is used too often and thereby loses value.
Doubt is declared removed not by argument, but by declaration; and any reader who has come to the hundredth such formula notices that it stands precisely at those places where argument is lacking. This remark applies not to this book alone, nor to this literature alone. The Vaishnava side treats doubt differently, and this deserves noting, for here its distinctness is clearly visible.
It does not forbid doubt, but counts it a legitimate stage; and the Gita ends with a question from Krishna: kachchid etach chhrutam partha... kachchid ajnana-sammohah pranashtas te dhananjaya, "have you heard this? has the delusion of ignorance been dispelled?" (18.72).
That is, the teacher asks, and does not declare; and only after Arjuna's answer, nashto mohah smritir labdha, "delusion is gone, memory is regained," does the conversation end. Its rule follows from this: doubt is removed by an answer to a question, not by a ban on asking; and of pariprashna, "questioning," as one of the three means of learning, discussed when reading the seventeenth verse of this chapter.