Upaniṣads · Mahāvākya p11
॥
Devanāgarī
सहस्रभानुमच्छुरितापूरितत्वादलिप्या पारावारपूर इव
Transliteración (IAST)
sahasrabhānumacchuritāpūritatvādalipyā pārāvārapūra iva
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
सहस्र-भानुमत्-छुरित-sahasra-bhānumat-churita-pervaded by a thousand suns
आपूरितत्वात् अ-लिप्याāpūritatvāt a-lipyāby its fullness, stainless
पारावार-पूरः इवpārāvāra-pūraḥ ivalike a flood from bank to bank
Traducción
«By its fullness, pervaded by a thousand suns, stainless — like a flood from bank to bank.»
Versión
3bca7871b094 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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A comparison is given: pārāvāra-pūraḥ iva, “like a flood from bank to bank.” Pāra and avara mean “far” and “near”; together, “both banks.” Pūra — “high water, flood.”
The image of a flood deserves examination, for it is not the same as the image of the ocean, discussed reading the Tārasāra. The ocean stands still; the flood moves. It rises, covers, and what was divided by dry land turns out joined by water.
During a flood, the boundaries, paths, and edges of fields are not destroyed: they are hidden beneath the water and reappear when the water recedes. This image, if thought through, does not work in favor of the reading it is usually made to serve. It speaks of covering, not of destruction; and distinctions remain in it — they merely cease to be visible.
The Vaiṣṇava side constantly points to such details of comparisons, and its rule is stated simply: a comparison proves only in the respect for which it is given. This rule has a name in Sanskrit literature — eka-deśa-nyāya, “the rule of one part”: every likeness has a point of resemblance, and it may not be stretched beyond it. Let us add, too, the word alipyā, “stainless,” for whose sake the comparison is given. The floodwater carries everything and is not soiled; and the Gītā says the same of the Ātman: “as space, pervading everywhere, by its subtlety is not stained, so the Ātman, present everywhere in the body, is not stained” (13.32).