Upanishads · 1.7
॥
Devanāgarī
यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूतान्य् आत्मैवाभूद् विजानतः ।
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वम् अनुपश्यतः
Transliteration (IAST)
yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ |
tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvam anupaśyataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यस्मिन्yasminin whom; in which; in what state
सर्वाणिsarvāṇiall; every kind of; without exception
भूतानिbhūtānibeings; living beings; existences
आत्माātmāthe Ātman; the self; the spiritual essence
एवevaprecisely; only; truly
अभूत्abhūthas become; has come to be (aorist of √bhū — 'to be'); has been recognised as
विजानतःvijānataḥfor the discerning one (vi-√jñā — 'to know by distinguishing'); for one who has understood; for the wise
तत्रtatrathere; then; in such a vision
कःkaḥwhat; which; what kind of
मोहःmohaḥdelusion; blindness; illusion
कःkaḥwhat; which; what kind of
शोकःśokaḥsorrow; grief; woe
एकत्वम्ekatvamoneness; unity of being; spiritual kinship
अनुपश्यतःanupaśyataḥfor one who sees; for the beholder; for one who discerns
Translation
When for the discerning one all beings have become the very Ātman — what delusion, what sorrow is left for him who beholds that oneness?
Version
d48b9815b109 · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:17:19 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The seventh mantra carries the sixth to its limit: when for one who has understood, all beings have become the Ātman itself — "what delusion then, what sorrow?" moha (delusion) and śoka (sorrow) are the two inseparable shadows of a separated existence: delusion takes what is another's for one's own, sorrow laments the loss of what was never one's own at all. Both die together with their cause — the illusion of being cut off from the Lord and from His family of beings.
It is important to catch the word vijānataḥ — "for the discerning one": vi-√jñā means "to know by distinguishing". The oneness of which the mantra speaks is the sight of one spiritual nature and one Master of everything, not the erasure of distinctions: the Upaniṣad itself, from its very first word, distinguishes the Lord from the world, the Giver from those who receive their share. Oneness here is like the oneness of a garden: one gardener, one soil and countless living flowers; he who has beheld that ekatvam ceases to see the world as a field of rivalry and is therefore free both from blindness and from grief.
The Bhagavad-gītā (18.54) describes the same state: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati / samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu — one who has realised his spiritual nature "neither grieves nor hankers, and is equally disposed towards all beings"; and it is out of that clarity, the verse continues, that supreme devotion is born — mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. Freedom from sorrow is not the end of the path but its pure beginning.