उपनिषद् · Kaṭharudra p3
॥
देवनागरी
तान्येतान्यनुव्रजन्नाश्रुमापातयेत् । यदश्रुमापातयेत्प्रजां विच्छिन्द्यात् । प्रदक्षिणमावृत्त्यैतच्चैतच्चानवेक्षमाणाः प्रत्यायन्ति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
tānyetānyanuvrajannāśrumāpātayet | yadaśrumāpātayetprajāṃ vicchindyāt | pradakṣiṇamāvṛttyaitaccaitaccānavekṣamāṇāḥ pratyāyanti
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
तानि एतानि अनुव्रजन्tāni etāni anuvrajanfollowing after them
न अश्रु आपातयेत्na aśru āpātayetlet him not shed tears
यत् अश्रु आपातयेत्yat aśru āpātayetif he sheds tears
प्रजां विच्छिन्द्यात्prajāṃ vicchindyāthe will cut off the offspring
अन्-अवेक्षमाणाः प्रत्यायन्तिan-avekṣamāṇāḥ pratyāyantinot looking back, they return
अनुवाद
Following after them, let him not shed tears: if he sheds tears, he will cut off the offspring. Having circled sunwise, not looking back at this or that, they return.
संस्करण
486f1c2cbd7a · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The household bids farewell to the departing one and must not weep; and having circled him sunwise, they depart without looking back. The ban on tears is explained by an omen: weep, and the line is cut off. This omen should not be taken as the explanation, but the custom beneath it is sound, and anyone who has seen someone off knows this: the tears of those left behind pull one back, and the departure becomes twice as hard.
It is worth noting also the rule "not looking back," anavekṣamāṇāḥ. It occurs in other rites too — at burial, at the carrying-out of the dead, at farewells; and it means one thing: the deed is done, and there is no replaying it. This whole rite is, in essence, a funeral in life: the person is seen off, may not be mourned, and is not looked back at. This explains its severity.
The Vaiṣṇava side understands the relation to family differently and more gently, and this is worth saying. Separation from them is counted neither an attainment nor a condition; the Gītā names as a sign of knowledge "non-attachment to son, wife, and home" (13.9), not the absence of son, wife, and home. There is a difference between "not having" and "not clinging," and it is decisive: the first can be done in a day, the second is the work of a lifetime.