उपनिषद् · Parabrahma 3
॥
देवनागरी
तत्सूत्रं विदितं येन स मुमुक्षुः स भिक्षुकः । स वेदवित्सदाचारः स विप्रः पङ्क्तिपावनः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
tatsūtraṃ viditaṃ yena sa mumukṣuḥ sa bhikṣukaḥ | sa vedavitsadācāraḥ sa vipraḥ paṅktipāvanaḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
तत् सूत्रं विदितं येनtat sūtraṃ viditaṃ yenaby whom that thread is known
सः मुमुक्षुः सः भिक्षुकःsaḥ mumukṣuḥ saḥ bhikṣukaḥhe is the one seeking liberation, he is the beggar
सः वेद-वित् सत्-आचारःsaḥ veda-vit sat-ācāraḥhe is the knower of the Vedas, of good conduct
सः विप्रः पङ्क्ति-पावनःsaḥ vipraḥ paṅkti-pāvanaḥhe is the vipra who purifies the row [at table]
अनुवाद
By whom that thread is known, he is the one seeking liberation, he is the beggar; he is the knower of the Vedas, he is of good conduct; he is the vipra who purifies the row at table.
संस्करण
89cd960e5042 · प्रकाशित 6 अग॰ 2026, 4:32:42 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Five titles are listed, and all are given for one and the same mark: he has known the thread. Look at the last of them: paṅkti-pāvana, "one who purifies the row." Paṅkti is the row of those seated at a meal; and by custom, some people's presence defiled the row, and others' presence sanctified it. This title was, in old times, the highest that could be said of a person at table.
And here it is given not by birth, but by knowledge. The Vaiṣṇava reading loves this passage, for it is common in the Vaiṣṇava tradition and stated most strongly in the Bhāgavatam: "a dog-eater on whose tongue is Your name is better than a brahmin adorned with all twelve marks" (3.33.7). There, not five titles but twelve marks are listed, and all are given for one thing: the name on the tongue.
Let us add that lists of this kind are not rare in the upaniṣads (we met them in Sūrya 9, Vajrasūcikā), and every time they are built the same way: a title considered hereditary is taken and given for a deed instead. This insistence shows that the dispute was a living one, and that victory in it did not come easily.