तं पञ्चशतान्यप्सरसां प्रतिधावन्ति शतं चूर्णहस्ताः शतं फलहस्ताः शतमाञ्जनहस्ताः शतं माल्याहस्ताः ब्रह्मालङ्कारेणालङ्कुर्वन्ति स ब्रह्मालङ्कारेणालङ्कृतो ब्रह्म विद्वान् ब्रह्मैवाभिप्रैति स आगच्छत्यारं हृदं तन्मनसात्येति तमित्वा सम्प्रतिविदो मज्जन्ति स आगच्छति मुहूर्तान्येष्टिहांस्तेऽस्मादपद्रवन्ति स आगच्छति विरजां नदीं तां मनसैवात्येति । तत्सुकृतदुष्कृते धूनुते । तस्य प्रिया ज्ञातयः सुकृतमुपयन्त्यप्रिया दुष्कृतं तद्यथा रथेन धावयन्रथचक्रे पर्यवेक्षत, एवमहोरात्रे पर्यवेक्षत एवं सुकृतदुष्कृते सर्वाणि च द्वन्द्वानि स एष विसुकृतो विदुष्कृतो ब्रह्म विद्वान्ब्रह्मैवाभिप्रैति
taṃ pañcaśatānyapsarasāṃ pratidhāvanti śataṃ cūrṇahastāḥ śataṃ phalahastāḥ śatamāñjanahastāḥ śataṃ mālyāhastāḥ brahmālaṅkāreṇālaṅkurvanti sa brahmālaṅkāreṇālaṅkṛto brahma vidvān brahmaivābhipraiti sa āgacchatyāraṃ hṛdaṃ tanmanasātyeti tamitvā samprativido majjanti sa āgacchati muhūrtānyeṣṭihāṃste'smādapadravanti sa āgacchati virajāṃ nadīṃ tāṃ manasaivātyeti | tatsukṛtaduṣkṛte dhūnute | tasya priyā jñātayaḥ sukṛtamupayantyapriyā duṣkṛtaṃ tadyathā rathena dhāvayanrathacakre paryavekṣata, evamahorātre paryavekṣata evaṃ sukṛtaduṣkṛte sarvāṇi ca dvandvāni sa eṣa visukṛto viduṣkṛto brahma vidvānbrahmaivābhipraiti
Five hundred apsarases run to meet him: a hundred with fragrant powders in their hands, a hundred with fruits, a hundred with ointments, a hundred with garlands; and they adorn him with the adornment of Brahmā. Adorned with the adornment of Brahmā, knowing Brahman, he goes on to Brahman. He comes to the lake Āra and crosses it with the mind — while those who know only the present, coming to it, sink. He comes to the moments Yeṣṭiha, and they flee from him. He comes to the river Unaging and crosses it by the mind alone. And there he shakes off his good and evil deeds: his dear kinsmen receive the good, the un-dear the evil. And as one driving in a chariot looks down on the two chariot-wheels, so he looks down on day and night, on good and evil deeds, and on all the pairs of opposites. And he, free of good and evil deeds, knowing Brahman, goes on to Brahman.
dcf490ec53b9 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 3:43:45 UTC
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The mantra describes what happens to the newcomer at the very gates, and there are three separate things in it to distinguish.
First — the attire. Five hundred apsarases bring him unguents, fruits, ointments and garlands: he is met not with judgment but with dress. The word brahmālaṅkāra, “the adornment of Brahmā”, means that this attire is not human; the newcomer is clothed in what belongs to that abode. Notice the order: first he is adorned, and only then is it said “adorned, he goes on to Brahman”. He enters not as a petitioner but as one already received.
Second — the obstacles and what overcomes them. The lake Āra, the moments Yeṣṭiha, the river Vijarā — all are passed by the word manasā, “with the mind”. Not by force, not by merit, not by rite: by thought, that is, by knowledge. And it is said at once who does not pass: samprati-vidaḥ, “those who know only the present” — those whose knowing reaches no further than the momentary sink in the very first lake.
Third — and most important, the reason this mantra is cited in the Vedānta. At the river Unaging he “shakes off his good and evil deeds”, and his dear kinsmen receive the good, the un-dear the evil. The assertion is sharp: the fruits of deeds do not simply burn away — they pass to others. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa examines this passage in the Govinda-bhāṣya, proving that at liberation karma is not destroyed of itself but distributed — and that the distributor of it can only be He who leads the soul.
Note too that the good goes to those who love, the evil to those who do not. There is no vengeance here: it is a description of how the ties by which a man was bound to the world are dismantled along with the deeds. The departing one drags with him neither his debts nor his merits, and neither is lost without trace.
And the image closing the mantra is among the most exact in the Upaniṣads. The rider in a chariot sees both wheels from above: they carry him, but he is not in them. So the liberated looks on day and night, on merit and sin, and on “all the pairs of opposites”. He neither denies them nor fights them — he sees them from aside, because he no longer rides on them.