Upaniṣads · Parabrahma 10
॥
Devanāgarī
वामांसदक्षकण्ठ्यन्तं ब्रह्मसूत्रं तु सव्यतः । अन्तर्बहिरिवात्यर्थं तत्त्वतन्तुसमन्वितम्
Transliteración (IAST)
vāmāṃsadakṣakaṇṭhyantaṃ brahmasūtraṃ tu savyataḥ | antarbahirivātyarthaṃ tattvatantusamanvitam
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
वाम-अंस-दक्ष-कण्ठि-अन्तंvāma-aṃsa-dakṣa-kaṇṭhi-antaṃfrom the left shoulder to the right side
ब्रह्म-सूत्रं तु सव्यतःbrahma-sūtraṃ tu savyataḥthe brahmin thread, on the left
अन्तर्-बहिः इव अत्यर्थंantar-bahiḥ iva atyarthaṃwithin, as if also outward, greatly
तत्त्व-तन्तु-समन्वितम्tattva-tantu-samanvitamfurnished with threads of the elements
Traducción
From the left shoulder to the right side, on the left — the brahmin thread, greatly [passing] within, as if also outward, furnished with threads of the elements.
Versión
6746c22ba706 · publicado 6 ago 2026, 16:32:42 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The position of the thread on the body is described, and described exactly as it is worn to this day: over the left shoulder, diagonally to the right side. Look at the phrase antar bahir iva, "within, as if also outward." It says that the inner thread runs the same course as the outer — that is, the inner structure is described on the outer pattern.
This device is constant in this literature and deserves respect. One speaks of the unseen in terms of the seen, because otherwise there is nothing to speak with: the listener has no experience but bodily experience, and every description of the inner willy-nilly borrows its words from the outer. This, incidentally, is where this whole book comes from: it takes the thread, a simple thing known to everyone, and by it explains what no one has seen.
The Vaiṣṇava reading considers this method the only possible one, and so is not ashamed of bodily descriptions in speaking of Him. One who demands that the spiritual be spoken of without a single bodily word demands the impossible; and receiving such speech, he will understand nothing from it — as is seen every time someone tries.