Upaniṣads · Mahāvākya p22
॥
Devanāgarī
य एतदथर्वशिरोऽधीते । प्रातरधीयानो रात्रिकृतं पापं नाशयति । सायमधीयानो दिवसकृतं पापं नाशयति
Transliteración (IAST)
ya etadatharvaśiro'dhīte | prātaradhīyāno rātrikṛtaṃ pāpaṃ nāśayati | sāyamadhīyāno divasakṛtaṃ pāpaṃ nāśayati
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
यः एतत् अथर्व-शिरः अधीतेyaḥ etat atharva-śiraḥ adhītewhoever studies this atharva-head
प्रातः अधीयानः रात्रि-कृतं पापं नाशयतिprātaḥ adhīyānaḥ rātri-kṛtaṃ pāpaṃ nāśayatistudying in the morning destroys the sin done at night
सायम् अधीयानः दिवस-कृतंsāyam adhīyānaḥ divasa-kṛtaṃstudying in the evening, that done by day
Traducción
«Whoever studies this atharva-head: studying in the morning destroys the sin done at night; studying in the evening, that done by day.»
Versión
c94dbb230a05 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The phala-śruti begins, and its construction is the same as we read in the Gaṇapati (11.2): morning removes the night's, evening the day's. There is no need to repeat what was said there; let me only recall the conclusion: behind the ritual language stands a routine of daily self-examination, arrived at by experience. Note something else: the book calls itself an atharva-śiras, “an Atharvan head.”
This name belongs to a whole class of short Atharvavedic upaniṣads: there is the Atharvaśiras, the Gaṇapati-atharvaśīrṣa, the Narasiṃha-atharvaśīrṣa. All are built the same way: a brief exposition and a long phala-śruti. This circumstance also explains why such a small book contains so many borrowings. This class consists precisely in gathering into one place currently-known sayings and attaching a promise to them.
The Vaiṣṇava side is untroubled by compositions of this kind, and has its own similar ones. But its rule for reading them is this, and it is worth repeating one last time: judge by the places where the subject is set forth, not by the places where it is merely named. Applying this rule here, we may say: there is little exposition in this book, and much compilation. It is valuable not for saying anything new, but for what it selected; and its selection, as we shall see in the last line, turned out to be Vaiṣṇava.