बलं वाव विज्ञानात् भूयः अपि ह शतम् विज्ञानवताम् एकः बलवान् आकम्पयते सः यदा बली भवति अथ उत्थाता भवति उत्तिष्ठन् परिचरिता भवति परिचरन् उपसत्ता भवति उपसीदन् द्रष्टा भवति श्रोता भवति मन्ता भवति बोद्धा भवति कर्ता भवति विज्ञाता भवति बलेन वै पृथिवी तिष्ठति बलेन अन्तरिक्षम् बलेन द्यौः बलेन पर्वताः बलेन देवमनुष्याः बलेन पशवः च वयांसि च तृणवनस्पतयः श्वापदानि आकीटपतङ्गपिपीलकम् बलेन लोकः तिष्ठति बलम् उपास्स्व इति
balaṃ vāva vijñānāt bhūyaḥ api ha śatam vijñānavatām ekaḥ balavān ākampayate saḥ yadā balī bhavati atha utthātā bhavati uttiṣṭhan paricaritā bhavati paricaran upasattā bhavati upasīdan draṣṭā bhavati śrotā bhavati mantā bhavati boddhā bhavati kartā bhavati vijñātā bhavati balena vai pṛthivī tiṣṭhati balena antarikṣam balena dyauḥ balena parvatāḥ balena devamanuṣyāḥ balena paśavaḥ ca vayāṃsi ca tṛṇavanaspatayaḥ śvāpadāni ākīṭapataṅgapipīlakam balena lokaḥ tiṣṭhati balam upāssva iti
"Strength is greater than comprehension. One strong man sets a hundred men of comprehension trembling. When a man is strong, he rises; having risen, he serves; serving, he draws near; having drawn near, he becomes one who sees, hears, thinks, understands, acts, comprehends. By strength the earth stands, by strength space, by strength heaven, by strength the mountains, by strength gods and men, by strength beasts and birds, grasses and trees, all that lives down to worm and ant. By strength the world stands. Venerate strength."
81893ed6c956 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 23:45:28 UTC
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The eighth rung is stunning: bala, strength, is higher than comprehension! The argument is crude and irrefutable: "one strong man sets a hundred men of comprehension trembling." But the Upaniṣad at once opens strength up from within, and it proves to be not a fist but a capacity to serve: the strong man "rises; having risen, he serves (paricaritā); serving, he draws near (upasattā); having drawn near, he sees, hears, comprehends". The ladder of discipleship! Strength is needed in order to get up and go to a teacher, to serve him, to sit beside him — and only by this road does comprehension come to a man at all.
So the "coarse" rung takes its place: comprehension is higher than strength in dignity, but strength is its load-bearing wall; without it wisdom will not rise from its mat. Hence the tradition does not despise the body: it is the equipment of service. And the cosmic sweep of the argument — "by strength the earth stands… the world" — hints at more: all the strength of creatures is a loan from one treasury; "I am the strength of the strong, free from passion" (BG 7.11).