Upaniṣads · Mahā 3.24
॥
Devanāgarī
क्षणमायाति पातालं क्षणं याति नभस्थलम् क्षणं भ्रमति दिक्कुञ्जे तृष्णा हृत्पद्मषट्पदी
Transliteración (IAST)
kṣaṇamāyāti pātālaṃ kṣaṇaṃ yāti nabhasthalam kṣaṇaṃ bhramati dikkuñje tṛṣṇā hṛtpadmaṣaṭpadī
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
क्षणम् आयाति पातालम्kṣaṇam āyāti pātālamin a moment it reaches the netherworld; in an instant it descends to the abysses below
क्षणम् याति नभः-स्थलम्kṣaṇam yāti nabhaḥ-sthalamin a moment it goes to the vault of heaven; in an instant it flies to the firmament
क्षणम् भ्रमति दिक्-कुञ्जेkṣaṇam bhramati dik-kuñjein a moment it roams the thickets of the quarters; in an instant it wanders the groves of every direction
तृष्णा हृत्-पद्म-षट्पदीtṛṣṇā hṛt-padma-ṣaṭpadīcraving — the bee in the lotus of the heart; thirst is the bee on the heart's lotus
Traducción
“In a moment it is in the netherworld, in a moment on the vault of heaven, in a moment it roams the thickets of the quarters: craving is a bee on the lotus of the heart.”
Versión
a36c584a10ac · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The third image, and the most beautiful: craving as a bee on the lotus of the heart.
The image is double, and therein is its power. A bee on a lotus is a peaceful, even tender picture. And it is also the picture of what lingers nowhere.
Thrice repeated is kṣaṇam, “in a single moment”: the netherworld, heaven, all the quarters. There is no distance for it.
Note that the heart is called a lotus — that very lotus in which, by this book's first adhyāya (1.10), a flame burns, and in the flame — He. The bee sits in the same place.
It turns out that craving has settled exactly where something else should be. Hence the Vaiṣṇava way of dealing with it: not to drive the bee away, but to give it the flower for which it was made.