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Upaniṣads · Jābāli 8
॥
Devanāgarī
तज्ज्ञानं केनोपायेन जायते । पुनः स तमुवाच विभूतिधारणादेव
Transliteración (IAST)
tajjñānaṃ kenopāyena jāyate | punaḥ sa tamuvāca vibhūtidhāraṇādeva
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
तत्-ज्ञानं केन उपायेन जायतेtat-jñānaṃ kena upāyena jāyate“by what means is that knowledge born?”
विभूति-धारणात् एवvibhūti-dhāraṇāt eva“by the wearing of ash alone”
Traducción
“‘By what means is that knowledge born?’ — ‘By the wearing of ash alone.’”
Versión
0b012f3a67f4 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Here is an answer, and it is unexpected: to the question about the means of knowledge the reply is vibhūti-dhāraṇāt, “by the wearing of ash.” Let us say why this is not as strange as it seems, and where the real difficulty lies nonetheless. Vibhūti means both “ash” and “greatness, abundance”; and the practice of applying ash is the chief outward sign among the Śaivas, discussed in detail reading Bhasma-jābāla.
Let us briefly restate its meaning: ash is what remains once everything burnable has burned; and one who wears it wears upon himself the memory of the end. This meaning is sound and not empty. The difficulty lies in the word eva, “alone”: it is said that knowledge is born only from this.
This position is, to my mind, disproportionate; and the Vaiṣṇava side objects not to the ash but to the “alone.” Its argument was cited reading Śāṭyāyanīya (9): a mark can be explicit or implicit, and one who abandons either falls. That is, a sign is needed, and it is a good sign; but a sign declared the sole means turns into a substitute for the thing itself.
Add, too, what it says on this most directly. Its own mark is the ūrdhva-puṇḍra, “the vertical line,” discussed reading Ūrdhvapuṇḍra; and its own books say outright that a sign without a heart is nothing. And its rule is this: a sign is recognized by, not saved by; and a person whose whole path consists of drawing a line has drawn it on an empty spot.