Upaniṣads · Jābāladarśana 4.56
॥
Devanāgarī
ज्ञानयोगपराणां तु पादप्रक्षालितं जलम् । भावशुद्ध्यर्थमज्ञानां तत्तीर्थं मुनिपुङ्गव
Transliteración (IAST)
jñānayogaparāṇāṃ tu pādaprakṣālitaṃ jalam | bhāvaśuddhyarthamajñānāṃ tattīrthaṃ munipuṅgava
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
ज्ञान-योग-पराणां तुjñāna-yoga-parāṇāṃ tufor those devoted to knowledge and yoga, however
पाद-प्रक्षालितं जलम्pāda-prakṣālitaṃ jalamthe water that washed the feet
भाव-शुद्धि-अर्थं अज्ञानाम्bhāva-śuddhi-arthaṃ ajñānāmfor the purification of disposition, for the ignorant
तत् तीर्थं मुनि-पुङ्गवtat tīrthaṃ muni-puṅgavathat is the holy place, O bull among sages
Traducción
"For those devoted to knowledge and yoga, however, the water that washed [their] feet — that is the holy place for the ignorant, for the purification of their disposition, O bull among sages."
Versión
4ae44353e1a0 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Here is a line that, in my view, overturns the whole preceding argument against images — and overturns it by what it itself prescribes. It is said: the holy place for the ignorant is the water that washed the feet of the knowing. Four lines above it was said that yogis do not worship either water or things, for all of it is matter (4.52). And now water is prescribed, sanctified by touching feet — that is, flesh.
The argument "but this is matter too" does not work here; and the book, having applied it to a wooden image, does not apply it to water and to feet. The reason for this is obvious, and deserves stating: a person is present in the feet. The water is honored not as water, but as that which touched a person in whom the sought-for thing is found.
But this is exactly what is claimed of an image. And the whole dispute, then, is not about matter, but about where a Person is present: in a person — yes; in wood — no. The Vaishnava side answers that in wood too — yes, and for the very same reason: because He has agreed to be present there. The custom prescribed here is, for it, exactly that charanamrita, "the nectar of the feet," discussed when reading the Bhasma-jabala (2.42), and it is performed both upon an image and upon a teacher.
Let us add what this line lacks, though it comes right up to it. It says bhava-shuddhi-artham, "for the purification of disposition"; that is, the purpose of the rite is correctly named — to change disposition, not to wash away matter. This definition agrees with the fifty-first line, where disposition was named the measure; and the two together outweigh the whole argument against images that stands between them.