Upaniṣads · Jābāladarśana 8.8
॥
Devanāgarī
धारयेद्बुद्धिमान्नित्यं सर्वपापविशुद्धये । ब्रह्मादिकार्यरूपाणि स्वे स्वे संहृत्य कारणे
Transliteración (IAST)
dhārayedbuddhimānnityaṃ sarvapāpaviśuddhaye | brahmādikāryarūpāṇi sve sve saṃhṛtya kāraṇe
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
धारयेत् बुद्धिमान् नित्यंdhārayet buddhimān nityaṃlet the wise one hold always
सर्व-पाप-विशुद्धयेsarva-pāpa-viśuddhayefor purification from all sins
ब्रह्म-आदि-कार्य-रूपाणिbrahma-ādi-kārya-rūpāṇithe resultant forms of Brahma and the rest
स्वे स्वे संहृत्य कारणेsve sve saṃhṛtya kāraṇehaving drawn each back into its own cause
Traducción
"…let the wise one always hold, for purification from all sins, having drawn the resultant forms of Brahma and the rest back into their own causes…"
Versión
41afeb217901 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
An exercise begins, known by the name laya-chintana, "reflection on dissolution": effects are traced back to causes, causes to their own causes, and so to the limit. The order is: earth dissolves in water, water in fire, fire in wind, wind in space, space in the self. This exercise is one of the central ones in Indian books, and, it must be said, fully intelligible.
Its design is to take the composite apart into its components and become convinced that none of them is oneself. The device is the same as in the Brihadaranyaka's list of "not this, not this" (2.3.6). The Vaishnava side acknowledges this technique and uses it; but points to a limit beyond which it does not go, and this indication deserves citing.
Taking the composite apart, one arrives at the non-composite; and there the analysis ends, for there is nothing left to take apart. But of the non-composite, analysis can say nothing: it knows only how to take away. Everything it yields is negative — "not this, not that"; and hence this path ends not in description, but in silence.
From this comes its conclusion, worth stating. Analysis carries one to the threshold, but does not lead one across; and what is beyond the threshold is known not by analysis, but by the testimony of one who is from there. The Bhagavatam says this directly: athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-prasada-leshanugrahita eva hi, janati tattvam bhagavan-mahimno na chanya eko'pi chiram vichinvan — "only he to whom even a fragment of the favor of Your lotus feet has been granted knows the essence of Your majesty; another, though he reflect forever, will not know it" (10.14.29).