उपनिषद् Atharvaśiras 39

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उपनिषद् · Atharvaśiras 39

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देवनागरी

रुद्रो हि शाश्वतेन वै पुराणेनेषम् ऊर्जेण तपसा नियन्ताग्निर् इति भस्म वायर् इति भस्म जलम् इति भस्म स्थलम् इति भस्म व्योमम् इति भस्म सर्वं ह वा इदं भस्म मन एतानि चक्षूंषि यस्माद् व्रतम् इदं पाशुपतं यद् भस्मनाङ्गानि संस्पृशेत् तस्माद् ब्रह्म तद् एतत् पाशुपतं पशुपाशविमोक्षणाय

लिप्यंतरण (IAST)

rudro hi śāśvatena vai purāṇeneṣam ūrjeṇa tapasā niyantāgnir iti bhasma vāyar iti bhasma jalam iti bhasma sthalam iti bhasma vyomam iti bhasma sarvaṃ ha vā idaṃ bhasma mana etāni cakṣūṃṣi yasmād vratam idaṃ pāśupataṃ yad bhasmanāṅgāni saṃspṛśet tasmād brahma tad etat pāśupataṃ paśupāśavimokṣaṇāya

शब्दशः अर्थ

संस्कृतIASTअर्थ

रुद्रः हि शाश्वतेन वै पुराणेनrudraḥ hi śāśvatena vai purāṇenafor Rudra — by the eternal, the ancient; Rudra indeed, through the everlasting, the primeval

इषम् ऊर्जेण तपसा नियन्ताiṣam ūrjeṇa tapasā niyantāby food, by strength, by austerity — the ruler; by nourishment, vigour and tapas — the bridler

अग्निः इति भस्मagniḥ iti bhasmafire is ash; agni is ash

वायुः इति भस्मvāyuḥ iti bhasmawind is ash; vāyu is ash

जलम् इति भस्मjalam iti bhasmawater is ash; jala is ash

स्थलम् इति भस्मsthalam iti bhasmadry land is ash; the firm ground is ash

व्योम इति भस्मvyoma iti bhasmasky is ash; vyoman is ash

सर्वम् ह वै इदम् भस्मsarvam ha vai idam bhasmaall this, truly, is ash; verily this whole is ash

मनः एतानि चक्षूंषिmanaḥ etāni cakṣūṃṣithe mind, these eyes; manas and these eyes

यस्मात् व्रतम् इदम् पाशुपतम्yasmāt vratam idam pāśupatamhence this vow, the pāśupata; therefore this observance is called pāśupata

यत् भस्मना अङ्गानि संस्पृशेत्yat bhasmanā aṅgāni saṃspṛśetthat with ash one should touch the limbs; that with ash one touch the body's parts

तस्मात् ब्रह्म तत् एतत् पाशुपतम्tasmāt brahma tat etat pāśupatamtherefore this is Brahman — this pāśupata; hence this pāśupata is Brahman

पशुपाशविमोक्षणायpaśupāśavimokṣaṇāyafor the release of the beasts from their bonds; for the freeing of the paśus from the fetters

अनुवाद

For Rudra — by the eternal, the ancient, by food, strength and austerity — is the ruler. Fire is ash, wind is ash, water is ash, dry land is ash, sky is ash; truly all this is ash, and the mind, and these eyes. Hence this vow is called pāśupata: that with ash one should touch the limbs. Hence this is Brahman — this pāśupata, for the release of the beasts from their bonds.

भाष्य

The section on ash, and it is the most Śaiva in the whole book.

Five times the same is repeated: “fire is ash, wind is ash, water is ash, land is ash, sky is ash”. Five elements, and all are named by what remains of them.

Then it is said more sharply: “and the mind, and these eyes”.

Bhasma is the ash of the sacrificial fire; with it the Pāśupatas smeared their bodies, and by this mark they were known.

The book explains the rite so: the ash reminds one how everything ends. He who has touched it keeps before his eyes the end of every thing, his own mind included.

Then two words are given that must be kept apart. Paśu — “a beast, a tethered animal”; pāśa — “fetters”. This teaching calls the soul a tethered beast, and the Lord pati, the herd's master.

And the aim is named outright: paśu-pāśa-vimokṣaṇa, “the release of the beasts from their bonds”.

Let me say honestly what here matters for the Vaiṣṇava reading and what is foreign to it. Foreign — that the whole world is reduced to ash: the Vaiṣṇava Vedānta does not hold matter worthless; for it, matter is the Lord's energy, not dust.

But this is close: the fetters are called fetters, and not the soul's nature. Bondage is not what we are; it is undone.

Baladeva, citing this book in the Govinda-bhāṣya, takes from it precisely the passages about the Highest, while his examination of the Pāśupatas he conducts separately — and does not agree with them.

संस्करण

427ae9a44909 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:17:52 am UTC

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