Upanishads · Kaṭha 4.4
॥
Devanāgarī
स्वप्नान्तं जागरितान्तं चोभौ येनानुपश्यति ।
महान्तं विभुम् आत्मानं मत्वा धीरो न शोचति
Transliteration (IAST)
svapnāntaṃ jāgaritāntaṃ cobhau yenānupaśyati /
mahāntaṃ vibhum ātmānaṃ matvā dhīro na śocati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्वप्नान्तम्svapnāntamwhat belongs to dream (svapna-anta — 'the compass of sleep'); the content of dreaming; the dream-world
जागरितान्तम्jāgaritāntamwhat belongs to waking (jāgarita-anta); the content of waking; the waking world
चcaand; as well as
उभौubhauboth; the two
येनyenaby whom; by which
अनुपश्यतिanupaśyatihe beholds (anu-√paś); he sees them through; he surveys
महान्तम्mahāntamthe great one; the ample one
विभुम्vibhumthe all-permeating; the mighty one
आत्मानम्ātmānamthe Ātman; himself
मत्वाmatvāhaving known; having realized
धीरःdhīraḥwise; the steadfast one
नnanot; no
शोचतिśocatigrieves; laments
Translation
Having realized the great, all-pervading Ātman by whom [a being] beholds both what belongs to dream and what belongs to waking, the wise man does not grieve.
Version
1cacea991787 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
svapnāntaṁ jāgaritāntaṁ ca — "the compass of dream and the compass of waking": the two great states in which all the life of consciousness is passed — and ubhau yenānupaśyati — "both are beheld by one". Dreaming and waking succeed each other, each abolishing the other's world: the daylight world melts away in sleep, the dream world at waking; only the Seer of both does not melt. He is the continuity thanks to which a man who has woken says "I dreamt": one and the same being lived the dream and lives the waking.
The argument goes deeper than it seems: if "I" were the body, sleep, in which the body is forgotten, would interrupt me; if "I" were the waking mind, the dream, in which waking is annulled, would end me nightly. But the witness passes through the states like a thread through beads; the states are his garments, not himself.
mahāntaṁ vibhum ātmānam matvā dhīro na śocati — "having realized the Ātman as great and all-pervading, the wise man does not grieve": the refrain of non-grieving (verses 41, 51, 75, 107) comes each time with a new ground; here it is this: he who has recognized himself as the thread and not the bead no longer weeps over the change of beads — and death takes its place beside sleep: one more change of state with the Witness unchanged.