Upaniṣads · Bhāvanā p32
॥
Devanāgarī
स्वच्छं स्वतःसिद्धमित्याचमनीयम् । चिच्चन्द्रमयीति सर्वाङ्गस्रवणं स्नानम्
Transliteración (IAST)
svacchaṃ svataḥsiddhamityācamanīyam | ciccandramayīti sarvāṅgasravaṇaṃ snānam
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
स्वच्छं स्वतः-सिद्धम् इति आचमनीयम्svacchaṃ svataḥ-siddham iti ācamanīyampure, self-established — water for rinsing
चित्-चन्द्र-मयी इतिcit-candra-mayī iti"consisting of the moon of consciousness"
सर्व-अङ्ग-स्रवणं स्नानम्sarva-aṅga-sravaṇaṃ snānamflowing over all the limbs — bathing
Traducción
"Pure, self-established" — water for rinsing; "consisting of the moon of consciousness," flowing over all the limbs — bathing.
Versión
60c507c01166 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The fifth and sixth services: ācamanīya, water for rinsing the mouth, and snāna, bathing. The reinterpretation proceeds in the same vein: rinsing is explained as pure, self-established (svataḥ-siddha, "self-evident"); bathing as the flowing of the moon of consciousness over the whole body. It is worth pausing on the word svataḥ-siddha, "self-established," for it carries much weight in disputes. It names what requires no proof and is confirmed of itself — for instance, one's own existence. No one proves to himself that he exists; the very one who doubts already thereby exists.
This argument is old in Indian literature and is brought up in the same cases it was brought up in Europe. The Vaiṣṇava side makes use of it, but with a qualification worth naming: it is self-evident that I exist; it is not self-evident what I am. The first is given to everyone; the second is not learned from oneself.
Hence on the question of God this argument settles nothing. From the fact that I am evident to myself, it follows neither that He exists nor that He does not; and so Vedānta on this point always appeals not to self-evidence but to testimony — to a word that has been handed down. Let us say a separate word about the image of the moon, by which bathing is named. The moon in these books is linked with coolness, moisture, and amṛta; and bathing, called the flowing of the moon over the limbs, is the image of a sensation familiar to anyone who has poured water over himself in the heat.