Upaniṣads · Mahāvākya p24
॥
Devanāgarī
मध्यन्दिनमादित्याभिमुखोऽधीयानः पञ्चमहापातकोपपातकात्प्रमुच्यते
Transliteración (IAST)
madhyandinamādityābhimukho'dhīyānaḥ pañcamahāpātakopapātakātpramucyate
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
मध्यन्दिनम् आदित्य-अभिमुखः अधीयानःmadhyandinam āditya-abhimukhaḥ adhīyānaḥstudying at midday, facing the sun
पञ्च-महा-पातक-उपपातकात् प्रमुच्यतेpañca-mahā-pātaka-upapātakāt pramucyateis freed from the five great and the minor sins
Traducción
«Studying at midday, facing the sun, one is freed from the five great and from the minor sins.»
Versión
4e52258ed5b9 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Midday is added, and a posture indicated: āditya-abhimukhaḥ, “facing the sun.” The word abhimukha, “turned face toward,” belongs to the same family as unmukha and vimukha, discussed reading the Jābāla-darśana (6.37); and here it is used in its direct, bodily sense. Note that throughout this whole book the sun is an object of orientation, not merely an image. One turns one's face to it; one calls it brahman; and beyond it is placed that which lies beyond the darkness.
The worship of the sun is the most ancient layer of Vedic faith, and it is worth saying two words of it here, since we have come right up against it. The most famous mantra of the Veda, the gāyatrī, is addressed to Savitṛ, that is, to the sun; and it is uttered three times a day, facing it. The Vaiṣṇava side does utter the gāyatrī and does honor the sun, but reads it differently, and it is worth saying how. The Gītā speaks in the first person: “I am the light in the moon and in the sun” (7.8); and elsewhere — “I told this imperishable yoga to Vivasvān,” that is, to the sun (4.1).
That is, for it the sun is the first pupil, not the object; and honoring it is honoring the one who taught it. Let us add what follows from this for reading the whole book. It leads from darkness to the sun, and from the sun to what lies beyond it; and its last line will name exactly what that turned out to be.
The five great sins are listed in earlier books (Bhasma-jābāla 2.48), and the measure of promises to remove them was discussed there.