Upanishads · Kaṭha 2.22
॥
Devanāgarī
अशरीरं शरीरेषु अनवस्थेष्व् अवस्थितम् ।
महान्तं विभुम् आत्मानं मत्वा धीरो न शोचति
Transliteration (IAST)
aśarīraṃ śarīreṣu anavastheṣv avasthitam /
mahāntaṃ vibhum ātmānaṃ matvā dhīro na śocati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अशरीरम्aśarīramthe bodiless (a-śarīra); having no body; beyond flesh
शरीरेषुśarīreṣuin bodies; amid bodies
अनवस्थेषुanavastheṣuin the unstable (an-avastha); in impermanent [bodies]; in the precarious
अवस्थितम्avasthitamthe stable one (ava-√sthā — 'to stand firm'); abiding firmly; the unshakable
महान्तम्mahāntamthe great one; the vast one
विभुम्vibhumthe all-pervading (vibhu — 'mighty, omnipresent'); the omnipresent; the all-embracing
आत्मानम्ātmānamthe Ātman; the spiritual essence
मत्वाmatvāhaving known; having realized
धीरःdhīraḥwise; the steadfast one
नnanot; no
शोचतिśocatihe grieves (from √śuc — 'to burn, to mourn'); sorrows; laments
Translation
Having realized the Ātman — bodiless among bodies, stable among the unstable, great and all-pervading — the wise man does not grieve.
Version
62f6fccbb915 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
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The verse's three pairs are three contrasts between the soul and its circumstances. aśarīraṁ śarīreṣu — "bodiless among bodies": the dweller in all bodies has himself no body; the wearer of garments is not sewn out of cloth. anavastheṣv avasthitam — "stable among the unstable": bodies grow, age, disintegrate — he who abides in them does not waver along with them, as light does not tremble along with the trembling water in which it is reflected. mahāntaṁ vibhum — "great, all-pervading": enclosed in a rib-cage — wider than the universe.
matvā dhīro na śocati — "having realized, the wise man does not grieve". The formula na śocati is a refrain of the Kaṭha (verses 41, 51 and onward) and the axial promise of the Gītā to Arjuna: grief is the daughter of ignorance about who we are; it dies not of consolations but of knowledge. As long as "I" is glued to the body, every crack in the body is a crack in me; he who has recognized himself as bodiless within the body has taken his heart out from under that hammer.
Note the direction of the consolation: the Upaniṣad does not say "the body will not die", nor does it say "death is not dreadful because all will vanish" — it says: what dies is not who you are. Between false consolation and despair runs a third way — truth; by it alone is grief healed without deceit.