जन्मजराभ्यां भिन्नः स्थाणुरयमच्छेद्योऽयं योऽसौ सौर्ये तिष्ठति योऽसौ गोषु तिष्ठति योऽसौ गोपान् पालयति योऽसौ गोपेषु तिष्ठति योऽसौ सर्वेषु वैदेषु तिष्ठति योऽसौ सर्वैर्वेदैर्गीयते योऽसौ सर्वेषु भूतेष्वाविश्य भूतानि विदधाति स वो हि स्वामी भवति
janmajarābhyāṁ bhinnaḥ sthāṇurayamacchedyo’yaṁ yo’sau saurye tiṣṭhati yo’sau goṣu tiṣṭhati yo’sau gopān pālayati yo’sau gopeṣu tiṣṭhati yo’sau sarveṣu vaideṣu tiṣṭhati yo’sau sarvairvedairgīyate yo’sau sarveṣu bhūteṣvāviśya bhūtāni vidadhāti sa vo hi svāmī bhavati
He is other than birth and old age, unshaken and uncleavable: He who abides in the daughter of the Sun, who is among the cows, who guards the cowherds and abides among them, who is in all the sayings of the Veda and is sung by all the Vedas, who, having entered all beings, ordains them — He is your Master.
c7237b0d85d1 · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:30:24 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Durvāsā's answer reaches its summit: he names for the cowherd women their Master, and does it by a list in which the incompatible is deliberately joined.
First the definitions of Vedānta: other than birth and old age, sthāṇu — "unshaken as a pillar", acchedya — "uncleavable". The last two words are familiar from the Gītā, where the eternal self is so described.
Then a list of places, and this is the most remarkable part. He is in the Yamunā, among the cows, among the cowherds whom He guards. And immediately: in all the sayings of the Veda and sung by all the Vedas. And finally: having entered all beings and ordaining them — that is, the Inner Ruler of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka.
In one list the village herd and the highest theology have met, and the book makes no transition between them. He who follows the cows is He of whom the Vedas sing.
And the last word is chosen without pomp: svāmī, "master, owner". Not "Brahman", not "Īśvara", but the one to whom they belong: the owner of the herd and their own owner.
This is the answer to the cowherd women's first question — but, as always in the Upaniṣads, the answer breeds a new question, and Gāndharvī will ask it.