Upaniṣads · Kaṭharudra 6
॥
Devanāgarī
सङ्कल्पोऽध्यवसायश्च क्रियान्निर्वृत्तिरेव च । एतन्मैथुनमष्टाङ्गं प्रवदन्ति मनीषिणः
Transliteración (IAST)
saṅkalpo'dhyavasāyaśca kriyānnirvṛttireva ca | etanmaithunamaṣṭāṅgaṃ pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
सङ्कल्पः अध्यवसायः चsaṅkalpaḥ adhyavasāyaḥ caintention and resolve
क्रिया निर्वृत्तिः एव चkriyā nirvṛttiḥ eva caaction and completion
एतत् मैथुनम् अष्ट-अङ्गंetat maithunam aṣṭa-aṅgaṃthis eightfold union
प्रवदन्ति मनीषिणःpravadanti manīṣiṇaḥthe wise call it
Traducción
Intention and resolve, action and completion — this eightfold union the wise call it.
Versión
cac7260c03ab · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The list is completed: saṅkalpa, "intention" — one wanted; adhyavasāya, "resolve" — one decided; kriyā, "action" — one began; nirvṛtti, "completion" — one did it. The eight steps, accordingly, are: looked, touched, joked, praised, spoke alone, wanted, decided, did. And all eight are called by one word — maithuna.
Here lies the sharpness of this teaching. Usually only the last is considered a transgression; but here all eight are named transgressions, and the first of them is a glance. To read this as excessive strictness would be wrong. The point here is not to declare a glance equal to a deed, but to show where the matter is decided. It is decided at the first steps, where retreat costs nothing; at the eighth, it is too late to retreat, and at the seventh, almost impossible.
The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this list and cites it in her manuals for the renounced almost word for word. Let us add to it one thing pertaining to every kind of restraint, not this one alone. To struggle at the eighth step is a hopeless and therefore exhausting task; the whole possibility of struggle lies at the first and second, and a person accustomed to averting his eyes spends incomparably less strength on restraint than one accustomed to looking and then struggling.