त्रयः धर्मस्कन्धाः यज्ञः अध्ययनम् दानम् इति प्रथमः तपः एव द्वितीयः ब्रह्मचार्याचार्यकुलवासी तृतीयः अत्यन्तम् आत्मानम् आचार्यकुले अवसादयन् सर्वे एते पुण्यलोकाः भवन्ति ब्रह्मसंस्थः अमृतत्वम् एति
trayaḥ dharmaskandhāḥ yajñaḥ adhyayanam dānam iti prathamaḥ tapaḥ eva dvitīyaḥ brahmacāryācāryakulavāsī tṛtīyaḥ atyantam ātmānam ācāryakule avasādayan sarve ete puṇyalokāḥ bhavanti brahmasaṃsthaḥ amṛtatvam eti
There are three branches of dharma: sacrifice, study and giving — that is the first; austerity is the second; a brahmacārin dwelling in his teacher's house, laying himself down utterly in the teacher's house — that is the third. All these become [possessors] of the worlds of merit; but he who stands established in Brahman goes to immortality.
911436adf0be · publicado 26 jul 2026, 22:44:39 UTC
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The famous khaṇḍa on the branches of dharma: trayo dharma-skandhāḥ — "three trunks-branches of dharma": (1) yajño 'dhyayanaṁ dānam — sacrifice, study, giving — the householder's path; (2) tapa eva — the hermit's austerity; (3) brahmacārī ācārya-kula-vāsī — the student "wearing himself utterly down in the teacher's house" (atyantam ātmānam avasādayan — giving himself completely to the service of his guru!). Three orders of sacred life — and to all of them an honest wage: sarva ete puṇya-lokā bhavanti — "all these become of the worlds of merit".
And then a thunderous distinction: brahma-saṁstho 'mṛtatvam eti — "he who stands established in Brahman goes to immortality": above all three branches there is a fourth thing: not an order of life but establishment (saṁ-stha — "firmly standing") in Him: the orders give worlds — Brahman gives immortality: the same vertical as in the Muṇḍaka (the rafts of works, and knowledge) and in the Gītā (9.21 against 9.22). Dharma is a tree with three branches; but the bird builds its nest not on a branch — on the trunk.