उपनिषद् · Pañcabrahma 4
॥
देवनागरी
पञ्चाशद्वर्णसंयुक्तं स्थितिरिच्छक्रियान्वितम् । शक्तिरक्षणसंयुक्तं सर्वाघौघविनाशनम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
pañcāśadvarṇasaṃyuktaṃ sthitiricchakriyānvitam | śaktirakṣaṇasaṃyuktaṃ sarvāghaughavināśanam
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
पञ्चाशत्-वर्ण-संयुक्तंpañcāśat-varṇa-saṃyuktaṃjoined with fifty sounds
स्थितिः इच्छा-क्रिया-अन्वितम्sthitiḥ icchā-kriyā-anvitampreservation, endowed with will and action
शक्ति-रक्षण-संयुक्तंśakti-rakṣaṇa-saṃyuktaṃjoined with the power of protection
सर्व-अघ-ओघ-विनाशनम्sarva-agha-ogha-vināśanamdestroying all streams of sin
अनुवाद
"Joined with fifty sounds, [presiding over] preservation, endowed with will and action, joined with the power of protection, destroying all streams of sin."
संस्करण
1cb07ff860f8 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The fifty sounds are added — that is, the whole Sanskrit alphabet, discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (6.22). It is worth noting that the second face is given sthiti, "preservation" — the second of the three cosmic deeds, after creation and before destruction. That is, the fivefold arrangement of faces also absorbs the usual triad of deeds: creation, preservation, destruction; and distributes them across its own columns.
The Vaiṣṇava side counts preservation her own deed above all, for the name Viṣṇu itself means the one who pervades and holds; and the Bhāgavatam maps the three deeds onto the three guṇas: creation through rajas, preservation through sattva, destruction through tamas (1.2.23). It is worth examining why preservation is assigned to sattva, for there is a thought in this. To create and to destroy is easier than to hold: both are single acts, while holding is a sustained one. Hence in human affairs too: everyone knows how to begin and abandon, but few know how to carry on for years.
Let us add what follows from this for assessing one's own life. Anyone who looks back will find much begun and abandoned in himself; and by this reckoning what he lacks is not resolve but sattva, that is, the capacity to sustain. The remedy for this is named just one thing in her books, and it is a dull one: niṣṭhā, "steadfastness," which comes from daily repetition, not from a burst of enthusiasm.