उपनिषद् · Bhāvanā p34
॥
देवनागरी
प्रत्येकं सप्तविंशतिधा भिन्नत्वेनेच्छाज्ञानक्रियात्मकब्रह्मग्रन्थिमद्रसतन्तुब्रह्मनाडी ब्रह्मसूत्रम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
pratyekaṃ saptaviṃśatidhā bhinnatvenecchājñānakriyātmakabrahmagranthimadrasatantubrahmanāḍī brahmasūtram
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
प्रत्येकं सप्त-विंशति-धा भिन्नत्वेनpratyekaṃ sapta-viṃśati-dhā bhinnatvenaeach divided into twenty-seven
इच्छा-ज्ञान-क्रिया-आत्मक-icchā-jñāna-kriyā-ātmaka-consisting of will, knowledge, and action
ब्रह्म-ग्रन्थिमत्-रस-तन्तु-ब्रह्म-नाडीbrahma-granthimat-rasa-tantu-brahma-nāḍīwith the knot of Brahmā, the thread of sap, the channel of brahman
ब्रह्म-सूत्रम्brahma-sūtramis the sacred thread
अनुवाद
Each divided into twenty-seven, consisting of will, knowledge, and action, with the knot of Brahmā, the thread of sap, the channel of brahman — this is the sacred thread.
संस्करण
04cedae62a79 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The eighth service — brahma-sūtra, the sacred thread placed upon the image. It is reinterpreted as an inner channel with brahma-granthi, "the knot of Brahmā"; and this is again a transfer of an object into the body. It is worth saying a word about the thread itself, for the thing means much in India and is disputed to this day. Yajñopavīta is a triple cord worn at initiation by the three highest castes; it was already discussed when reading the Kāṭharudra (p1, 2), where the one leaving the world casts it off.
The question that is inevitable here is the question of admission: to whom the thread belongs, and to whom not. And it must be answered directly, for much depends on the answer. The Vaiṣṇava side answers as she has always answered — by devotion, not by birth. The Bhāgavatam says that "even one born a dog-eater" becomes fit for sacrifice, if he has devotion (3.33.7); and the Padma-purāṇa commands directly that a devotee of low birth be considered higher than a brahmin devoid of devotion. And so in Vaiṣṇava communities the thread is given by initiation, not by blood — which has caused and continues to cause objections, and we are not ashamed of these objections.
Let us add that the present reinterpretation too, for all its abstraction, works in the same direction: if the thread is an inner channel, then it belongs to everyone, and the question of caste falls away of itself.