मीमांसन्ते ब्रह्मवादिनो ह्रस्वा दीर्घा प्लुता चेति । यदि ह्रस्वा भवति सर्वं पाप्मानं दहत्यमृतत्वं च गच्छति यदि दीर्घा भवति महतीं श्रियमाप्नोत्यमृतत्वं च गच्छति यदि प्लुता भवति ज्ञानवान्भवत्यमृतत्वं च गच्छति
mīmāṃsante brahmavādino hrasvā dīrghā plutā ceti | yadi hrasvā bhavati sarvaṃ pāpmānaṃ dahatyamṛtatvaṃ ca gacchati yadi dīrghā bhavati mahatīṃ śriyamāpnotyamṛtatvaṃ ca gacchati yadi plutā bhavati jñānavānbhavatyamṛtatvaṃ ca gacchati
The discoursers on Brahman deliberate: short, long and protracted. If it is short — it burns all sin and he attains immortality; if long — he obtains great prosperity and attains immortality; if protracted — he becomes possessed of knowledge and attains immortality.
47cb14e939ce · publicado 29 jul 2026, 4:39:50 UTC
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The speech is of the length of the syllable, and this is no trifle of pronunciation.
Sanskrit grammar distinguishes three measures of a vowel: hrasva — short, one mora; dīrgha — long, two; pluta — “protracted”, three or more. The last is used in calling from afar and in ritual utterance.
And it is said: the fruit depends on the length. The short burns sin; the long gives prosperity; the protracted — knowledge.
Here one can see how a mantra differs from a spell as outsiders imagine it. Not “the words have power”: what has power is the measure with which they are uttered. One and the same syllable, drawn out threefold, does something else.
Note the verb mīmāṁsante — “they deliberate, investigate”. From it comes Mīmāṁsā, the science of interpreting ritual injunctions.
That is, the book does not pass this off as revelation: it says that the knowers deliberate on it, and gives their three opinions.
And each time the end is one: “and attains immortality”. Whatever the utterer chooses, the last thing is not taken away.