Upaniṣads · Bhasmajābāla 2.26
॥
Devanāgarī
सोमोऽत एव योऽहं सर्वेषामधिष्ठाता सर्वेषां च भूतानां पालकः
Transliteración (IAST)
somo'ta eva yo'haṃ sarveṣāmadhiṣṭhātā sarveṣāṃ ca bhūtānāṃ pālakaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
सोमः अतः एव यः अहम्somaḥ ataḥ eva yaḥ ahamSoma, from this same, who I am
सर्वेषाम् अधिष्ठाताsarveṣām adhiṣṭhātāstanding over all
सर्वेषां च भूतानां पालकःsarveṣāṃ ca bhūtānāṃ pālakaḥand the protector of all beings
Traducción
«Soma, from this same, who I am — standing over all, and the protector of all beings».
Versión
8a19f4a971ae · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Two definitions, and both deserve unpacking: adhiṣṭhātā, «standing over», and pālaka, «protector». The first was discussed when reading Tripurā (1): adhiṣṭhāya means «standing over, seated above», and in the very first line of that book it separated the highest from what it governs. The second — pālaka, from pāl, «to protect, to herd»; hence gopāla, «cowherd», and pāla, «guardian».
Worth noting that this word is from the pastoral vocabulary: one who tends protects the herd. And that the highest is called by this word is constant in these books. The Vaishnava side rests on this word more than on almost any other, and its chief name is Gopāla, «protector of the cows». And its whole store of images comes from there: cowherd, herd, flute, forest.
Worth noting, however, a difference too. Here standing over and protector stand side by side; there the cowherd does not stand over — he walks with the herd, eats with the herders, sleeps on the ground. This difference is not theological but, so to speak, positional; and in it, to my mind, lies the whole peculiarity of the Vaishnava understanding. One can protect from above, or one can protect from within; and the second requires the protector himself to enter what he protects.