उपनिषद् · Varāha 3.24
॥
देवनागरी
उत्पाद्यमाना रागाद्या विवेकज्ञानवह्निना । यदा तदैव दह्यन्ते कुतस्तेषां प्ररोहणम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
utpādyamānā rāgādyā vivekajñānavahninā | yadā tadaiva dahyante kutasteṣāṃ prarohaṇam
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
उत्पाद्यमानाः राग-आद्याःutpādyamānāḥ rāga-ādyāḥarising, passion and the rest
विवेक-ज्ञान-वह्निनाviveka-jñāna-vahnināby the fire of discerning knowledge
यदा तदा एव दह्यन्तेyadā tadā eva dahyanteare burned at the very moment [they arise]
कुतः तेषां प्ररोहरणम्kutaḥ teṣāṃ praroharaṇamwhence would their sprouting be?
अनुवाद
"Passion and the rest, arising, are burned by the fire of discerning knowledge at the very moment [they arise]; whence, then, would their sprouting be?"
संस्करण
12f91f48ecee · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Worth noting is the word prarohana, "sprouting," from pra-ruh, "to grow upward, to sprout." The image is drawn from agriculture: a seed cast into the ground sprouts; burned, it does not. This comparison is a commonplace in Indian books and is cited whenever the consequences of deeds are discussed; and of papa-bija, "the seed of sin," discussed when reading the Mahavakya (p23).
Let us add what deserves saying of the image itself, for it contains precision. A seed does not sprout at once: time passes between sowing and sprouting, and during it the seed is invisible. That is, a passion that has arisen and gone unnoticed lies in a person without signs and sprouts later; and anyone who has observed himself knows that lapses come from where they were not expected.
Hence the instruction here — yada tada eva dahyante, "at the very moment": one must burn at the sprouting, not after. The Vaishnava side holds this rule and states it through its own list: anartha are removed as service proceeds, and removed one by one, not all at once; discussed when reading the Yajnavalkya (12). Let us add what it replaces here.
Here what burns is viveka-jnana-vahni, "the fire of discerning knowledge." For it, what burns is service; and the Bhagavatam, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (4.54), compares its action to the sun dispersing fog (6.1.15). The difference is that a fire must be kindled, while the sun rises of itself; and the first depends on us, the second does not.