Upanishads · Varāha 5.64
॥
Devanāgarī
मेरुमध्यगता देवाश्चलन्ते मेरुचालनात् । आदौ सञ्जायते क्षिप्रं वेधोऽस्य ब्रह्मग्रन्थितः
Transliteration (IAST)
merumadhyagatā devāścalante merucālanāt | ādau sañjāyate kṣipraṃ vedho'sya brahmagranthitaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मेरु-मध्य-गताः देवाःmeru-madhya-gatāḥ devāḥthe deities dwelling in the middle of Meru
चलन्ते मेरु-चालनात्calante meru-cālanātmove from the movement of Meru
आदौ सञ्जायते क्षिप्रंādau sañjāyate kṣipraṃat first there quickly arises
वेधः अस्य ब्रह्म-ग्रन्थितःvedhaḥ asya brahma-granthitaḥits piercing from the Brahma-knot
Translation
"The deities dwelling in the middle of Meru move from the movement of Meru; at first there quickly arises its piercing — from the Brahma-knot."
Version
bd613613b862 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The granthis, "knots," are named, and the following verses will list three of them. The word granthi means "knot, tie," from granth, "to bind"; from the same root comes grantha, "book" — for a book was bound. The teaching of the knots holds that three ties stand on the path, named after three gods, and each must be untied.
Worth noting that the image of a knot is more exact than the image of a lock, discussed when reading the twenty-third verse. A lock is set from outside; a knot is tied from the very same thing that binds: the cord binds itself. And this is, in my view, a true description of how a person is bound: not by something extraneous, but by his own loops.
The Vaishnava side holds the image of the knot and has its own expression of it, and moreover a well-known one. The Bhagavatam (1.2.21) says: bhidyate hridaya-granthish chhidyante sarva-samshayah; kshiyante chasya karmani drishta evatmanishvare. Translated: "the knot of the heart is untied, all doubts are cut away, his works dwindle, when he has seen the Lord in himself."
Worth noting the order: the knot is untied not by a technique, but by having seen. That is, the untying is a consequence, not a labor; and anyone who has tried to untie a tight knot by force knows it only tightens further from this.