उपनिषद् · Jābāladarśana 3.5
॥
देवनागरी
ऊर्वोरुपरि विप्रेन्द्र कृत्वा पादतलद्वयम् । पद्मासनं भवेत्प्राज्ञ सर्वरोगभयापहम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
ūrvorupari viprendra kṛtvā pādataladvayam | padmāsanaṃ bhavetprājña sarvarogabhayāpaham
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
ऊर्वोः उपरि विप्र-इन्द्रūrvoḥ upari vipra-indraupon the thighs, O lord of the vipras
कृत्वा पाद-तल-द्वयम्kṛtvā pāda-tala-dvayamhaving placed both soles of the feet
पद्म-आसनं भवेत् प्राज्ञpadma-āsanaṃ bhavet prājñathe lotus sitting-posture will be, O wise one
सर्व-रोग-भय-अपहम्sarva-roga-bhaya-apahamremoving all disease and fear
अनुवाद
"Having placed both soles of the feet upon the thighs, O lord of the vipras — this will be the lotus sitting-posture, O wise one, removing all disease and fear."
संस्करण
e5d8b08b87b9 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Padma-asana, "the lotus sitting-posture," is the most famous of the postures and still serves as the emblem of yoga in general. It is promised that it is sarva-roga-bhaya-apaham, "removes all disease and fear." This promise must be called what it is: an exaggeration of the same kind as "a hundred crores of merit" in the Rudraksha-jabala, and one cannot cure oneself by sitting. This has already been said, and we shall not repeat it.
It is worth saying something, however, about the image of the lotus itself, for it appears everywhere in these books and deserves examination. The lotus grows in muddy water, rooted in silt; but its leaf and flower are not wetted by the water — a drop rolls off, leaving no trace. Hence it became the image of one who lives amid the world without being soaked by it.
The Gita uses this image directly: "one who, abandoning attachment, acts, dedicating his deeds to brahman, is not stained by sin, as a lotus leaf by water" (5.10). It is worth examining wherein the precision of this comparison lies, for it is not in detachment. The lotus does not leave the water and does not disdain it: it stands within it, is nourished by it, and does not grow without it. Its unwettedness is a property of the surface, not a withdrawal.
Hence this image is more beloved in Vaishnava books than images of flight. What is proposed is not to leave the world, but to be in it without being soaked; and the difference between these two ways constitutes, in substance, the difference between renunciation and service in the world.