उपनिषद् · Bhasmajābāla 1.20
॥
देवनागरी
अयमेव धर्मः सनातनः सर्वपापनाशको मोक्षहेतुः । नित्योऽयं धर्मो ब्राह्मणानां ब्रह्मचारिगृहिवानप्रस्थयतीनाम् । एतदकरणे प्रत्यवैति ब्राह्मणः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
ayameva dharmaḥ sanātanaḥ sarvapāpanāśako mokṣahetuḥ | nityo'yaṃ dharmo brāhmaṇānāṃ brahmacārigṛhivānaprasthayatīnām | etadakaraṇe pratyavaiti brāhmaṇaḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अयम् एव धर्मः सनातनःayam eva dharmaḥ sanātanaḥthis is the very law, eternal
सर्व-पाप-नाशकः मोक्ष-हेतुःsarva-pāpa-nāśakaḥ mokṣa-hetuḥdestroying all sin, the cause of liberation
नित्यः अयं धर्मः ब्राह्मणानांnityaḥ ayaṃ dharmaḥ brāhmaṇānāṃthis law is constant for brahmins
ब्रह्मचारि-गृहि-वानप्रस्थ-यतीनाम्brahmacāri-gṛhi-vānaprastha-yatīnāmof students, householders, forest-dwellers, and renunciants
एतत् अ-करणे प्रत्यवैति ब्राह्मणःetat a-karaṇe pratyavaiti brāhmaṇaḥnot doing this, a brahmin suffers loss
अनुवाद
«This is the very law, eternal, destroying all sin, the cause of liberation. This law is constant for brahmins — students, householders, forest-dwellers, and renunciants. Not doing this, a brahmin suffers loss».
संस्करण
fc76943bd620 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Sanātana dharma, «the eternal law», is named and applied to the wearing of ash. The word sanātana, «eternal», is one of the weightiest in these books; it was discussed when reading Rudra-hṛdaya (13), where Viṣṇu was called «the eternal self of all beings». Worth noting how freely this word is applied. Here the eternal law is named as the application of ash to the forehead.
Let me say this with care, for it is easy to slip into mockery here, and mockery explains nothing. Every community calls eternal what it lives by, and this is not hypocrisy but a property of language: one's own seems always-existing. A custom received from one's father seems older than itself.
But there is one measure that applies everywhere. What may be called eternal is only what does not depend on place and time. The wearing of ash does depend: it is possible where dung is burnt and impossible where it is not. The Vaishnava side applies the word sanātana to something else, and does so consistently. What is eternal for it is not a custom but a relationship: that the soul belongs to Him. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta says: «the soul's nature is to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa» (2.20.108); and this statement depends neither on land nor on age, nor on whether dung and clay are at hand.