Upanishads · 1.3
॥
Devanāgarī
असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसावृताः ।
तांस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः
Transliteration (IAST)
asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ |
tāṃste pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
असुर्याःasuryāḥasuric; belonging to the asuras (from asu — 'life force': devoted to power rather than to its Lord); godless
नामnāmaby name; so called; known as
तेtethose; they; these
लोकाःlokāḥworlds; abodes; states of existence
अन्धेनandhenablind; dark; bereft of sight
तमसाtamasāby darkness; by ignorance; by gloom
आवृताःāvṛtāḥcovered; enveloped; shut in
तान्tāninto them; those worlds; to them
तेtethey; those people; such beings
प्रेत्यpretyahaving departed (from the body); after death (from pra-√i — 'to go forth'); having left this world
अभिगच्छन्तिabhigacchanticome; reach; enter
ये के चye ke cawhoever; all those who; of whatever kind
आत्महनःātmahanaḥslayers of the self; those who destroy themselves (from √han — 'to kill'); those who live against their own nature
जनाःjanāḥpeople; beings; persons
Translation
There are worlds of the asuras, wrapped in blind darkness; into them, after death, go all who slay their own soul.
Version
024ce1b5364c · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:17:19 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
After two luminous mantras comes a stern warning. asuryā nāma te lokāḥ — "worlds of the asuras", wrapped in blind darkness: andhena tamasā — a darkness that does not merely conceal but takes away the very power to see. There go the ātma-hanaḥ — "slayers of the self". A startling phrase: the ātman is indestructible, and yet one can be its slayer. He slays his soul who lives as though it did not exist: who has put an eternal being into the service of a body, who has refused his bond with the Lord of the first mantra and preferred to appropriate rather than to receive. Such an existence is a lifelong suicide: the precious human form, the one door to awakening, is squandered on what is available to an animal as well.
The word asurya is linked to asu — "life force": the asuras are devoted to the force of life rather than to the Lord of life. The Bhagavad-gītā (16.19–20) describes their course: not rising towards the Lord, they descend into ever darker states of being. The darkness here is not a punishment imposed from outside but the ripened fruit of one's own choice: he who has been extinguishing the light within arrives where there is none.
The mantra stands third for a reason: first the vision and the way are given (mantras 1–2), and only then the lot of one who has rejected both. The very order is merciful: the Upaniṣad warns not in order to terrify, but in order to turn us round.