Upaniṣads · Mahāvākya p23
॥
Devanāgarī
तत्सायं प्रातः प्रयुञ्जानः पापोऽपापो भवति
Transliteración (IAST)
tatsāyaṃ prātaḥ prayuñjānaḥ pāpo'pāpo bhavati
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
तत् सायं प्रातः प्रयुञ्जानःtat sāyaṃ prātaḥ prayuñjānaḥapplying it in the evening and morning
पापः अ-पापः भवतिpāpaḥ a-pāpaḥ bhavatithe sinful becomes sinless
Traducción
«Applying it in the evening and morning, the sinful becomes sinless.»
Versión
033393a0cde6 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The promise is the same as in the Gaṇapati (11.2), and in almost the same words; the measure of such promises has been discussed more than once. It is worth examining the phrase itself, pāpo'pāpo bhavati, “the sinful becomes sinless,” for it is built as a change of name, not of state. He was pāpa, he became apāpa: that is, what changed is what he is called.
This phrase is common in Sanskrit and denotes a change of position: as a “debtor” becomes a “non-debtor” by paying. It is worth pausing on this comparison, for it explains what such promises achieve, and what they do not. One who has paid a debt ceases to be a debtor — and this is a real change of position. But the habit of borrowing remains with him; and if he himself has not changed, he will borrow again tomorrow.
The Vaiṣṇava side draws exactly this distinction, and calls it the distinction between pāpa and pāpa-bīja, “sin and the seed of sin.” The deed is removed; the inclination remains. The image used to illustrate this was cited reading the Jābāla-darśana (4.54): an elephant, bathed and then wallowing again (Bhāgavatam 6.1.9–10).
Let us add what is said there of the remedy: the seed is burned away bhagavat-sevayā, by service — just as the sun disperses fog (6.1.15). The relation turns out thus: the rite removes the debt, service changes the inclination; and one does not replace the other, but nor does it cancel it.