Upanishads · Kena 4.5
॥
Devanāgarī
अथाध्यात्मं यद् एतद् गच्छतीव च मनो ऽनेन चैतद् उपस्मरत्य् अभीक्ष्णं सङ्कल्पः ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
athādhyātmaṃ yad etad gacchatīva ca mano 'nena caitad upasmaraty abhīkṣṇaṃ saṅkalpaḥ ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथathanow; further
अध्यात्मम्adhyātmamwith reference to the inner; with reference to oneself (adhi-ātma); in the depth of one's being
यत्yatthat; when
एतत्etatthis; it
गच्छति इवgacchati ivaas though goes; as if moves
चcaand; also
मनःmanaḥthe mind; thought
अनेनanenaby this; through it
चcaand; also
एतत्etatthis; Him
उपस्मरतिupasmaratiremembers (upa-√smṛ — 'to keep in mind'); calls to mind; returns in memory
अभीक्ष्णम्abhīkṣṇamagain and again; unceasingly; constantly
सङ्कल्पःsaṅkalpaḥthe resolve of the will (sam-√kḷp — 'to form an intention'); determination; intention
Translation
Now of the inner: He is that towards which the mind as it were moves; by Him [the heart] remembers Him again and again; [He is] the very resolve of the will.
Version
6866890edadc · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:28:41 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
adhyātmam — "with reference to the inner", in the depth of one's own being. In the cosmos He is lightning; in the soul there are three marks of Him. First: mano gacchatīva — "the mind as it were goes towards Him": the iva, "as it were", remembers the lesson of the first khaṇḍa — arrive the mind cannot (1.3), but reach out it can, and that very reaching points the direction more truly than any thought. Second: anena caitad upasmaraty abhīkṣṇam — "by it He is remembered again and again": abhīkṣṇam — "incessantly, over and over". Third: saṅkalpaḥ — the aspiration, the resolve of the will.
Here, in one compressed verse, is the whole inner practice: unceasing remembrance. smaraṇa is the very thread that in the Īśa Upaniṣad is drawn taut in the hour of death ("O will, remember!", mantra 17); the Kena bids us spin it all our life long: not the holding of a concept but the returning movement of the heart towards Him who is greater than concepts.
And the subtlest point: the very pull towards Him is already His presence. The mind "as it were goes", drawn; the will strains, drawn. Longing for God is not manufactured by effort out of nothing — it is His touch from within, the beginning of the same grace that appeared to Indra as Umā. Whoever has begun to long for Him has already been touched.