Upanishads · Kaṭha 5.11
॥
Devanāgarī
सूर्यो यथा सर्वलोकस्य चक्षुर् न लिप्यते चाक्षुषैर् बाह्यदोषैः ।
एकस् तथा सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा न लिप्यते लोकदुःखेन बाह्यः
Transliteration (IAST)
sūryo yathā sarvalokasya cakṣur na lipyate cākṣuṣair bāhyadoṣaiḥ /
ekas tathā sarvabhūtāntarātmā na lipyate lokaduḥkhena bāhyaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सूर्यःsūryaḥthe sun; Sūrya
यथाyathāhow; like
सर्वलोकस्यsarvalokasyaof the whole world; of all the worlds
चक्षुःcakṣuḥthe eye (cakṣus); the eye; sight
नnanot; no
लिप्यतेlipyateis defiled (from √lip — 'to smear'); is stained; is soiled
चाक्षुषैःcākṣuṣaiḥbelonging to the eyes (cākṣuṣa); ocular; of vision
बाह्यदोषैःbāhyadoṣaiḥby outward defects (bāhya-doṣa); by external faults; by outward corruption
एकःekaḥone; single
तथाtathāthus; like
सर्वभूतान्तरात्माsarvabhūtāntarātmāthe inner Ātman of all beings; the soul within all
नnanot; no
लिप्यतेlipyateis defiled (from √lip — 'to smear'); is stained; is soiled
लोकदुःखेनlokaduḥkhenaby the suffering of the world (loka-duḥkha); by the world's pain; by the world's grief
बाह्यःbāhyaḥ[abiding] outside; external [to it]; beyond its bound
Translation
As the sun, the eye of the whole world, is not defiled by the outward defects of [our] eyes, so the one inner Ātman of all beings is not defiled by the suffering of the world — [He is] outside it.
Version
d5dabe990a8c · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third analogy — the summit of the series. sūryo yathā sarva-lokasya cakṣuḥ — "the sun is the eye of the whole world": by it everything is visible; na lipyate cākṣuṣair bāhya-doṣaiḥ — "it is not stained by the outward defects of the eyes": the sun lights up both the discharge of a diseased eyelid and the dirt of the roads — and takes not a speck upon itself; light touches everything and is soiled by nothing.
So too ekas tathā sarva-bhūta-antarātmā na lipyate loka-duḥkhena bāhyaḥ — "the one inner Ātman of all beings is not stained by the suffering of the world, [abiding] outside". Here is the answer to the heaviest of questions: if He is in every heart, does He suffer our sufferings and sin our sins? No: He is present as light is — illumining, quickening, witnessing — but the grief belongs to the dreaming soul, not to the Witness. That is why He can save: only one standing on the bank pulls out the drowning; a God dissolved without remainder in the world's suffering would be a fellow-drowner, not a Saviour.
na lipyate — "is not stained" — is the same word with which the Īśa Upaniṣad (mantra 2) promised a man a life that does not stain the doer. The correspondence is exact: a man becomes unstained in activity in the measure in which he lives conformably to the Unstained — present in the world as light is: wholly in it and wholly free of it.