Upaniṣads · Bhāvanā p21
॥
Devanāgarī
शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेच्छासत्त्वरजस्तमोगुणा वशिन्यादिशक्तयोऽष्टौ
Transliteración (IAST)
śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhecchāsattvarajastamoguṇā vaśinyādiśaktayo'ṣṭau
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
शीत-उष्ण-सुख-दुःख-इच्छा-śīta-uṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-icchā-cold, heat, joy, sorrow, desire
सत्त्व-रजः-तमः-गुणाःsattva-rajaḥ-tamaḥ-guṇāḥand the qualities sattva, rajas, tamas
वशिनी-आदि-शक्तयः अष्टौvaśinī-ādi-śaktayaḥ aṣṭauare Vaśinī and the other eight powers
Traducción
Cold, heat, joy, sorrow, desire, and the qualities sattva, rajas, and tamas are Vaśinī and the other eight powers.
Versión
9be8935ce2a2 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Eight states, and the first four of them are the famous dvandva, "pairs of opposites": cold and heat, joy and sorrow. These pairs are named constantly in these books and serve to describe what buffets a person about. The Gītā says: "the touches [of the senses] to their objects, O son of Kuntī, give cold and heat, joy and pain; they come and go, impermanent — endure them" (2.14).
This verse is worth comparing to our line, for the same objects are described, yet different things are said of them. Here, cold and heat are called goddesses; there, they are what comes and goes and must be endured. The difference is in the relation, and it is not small. If cold and heat are goddesses, one addresses them; if they are waves, one waits them out. The first makes a person a participant, the second one who endures; and the second, to my mind, is truer to experience, for neither heat nor sorrow answers when addressed.
It is worth noting also that icchā, "desire," and the three guṇas are placed in the same row as cold and heat. Thereby desire is assigned to the same category as heat and cold: what befalls and passes. This observation is precise and useful: desire is experienced as one's own, yet behaves like weather.