Upanishads · Muṇḍaka 3.2.8
॥
Devanāgarī
यथा नद्यः स्यन्दमानाः समुद्रे अस्तं गच्छन्ति नामरूपे विहाय ।
तथा विद्वान् नामरूपात् विमुक्तः परात् परं पुरुषम् उपैति दिव्यम् ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
yathā nadyaḥ syandamānāḥ samudre astaṃ gacchanti nāmarūpe vihāya |
tathā vidvān nāmarūpāt vimuktaḥ parāt paraṃ puruṣam upaiti divyam ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यथाyathāhow; like
नद्यःnadyaḥthe rivers; the streams
स्यन्दमानाःsyandamānāḥflowing (from √syand); streaming; running
समुद्रेsamudrein the ocean; in the sea
अस्तम् गच्छन्तिastam gacchantidisappear, set (astaṁ √gam — 'to set [as the sun]'); are lost to view; pass away [into the ocean]
नामरूपेnāmarūpename and form; appellation and shape
विहायvihāyahaving left behind (vi-√hā); having abandoned; having laid aside
तथाtathāthus; like
विद्वान्vidvānknowing; wise
नामरूपात्nāmarūpātfrom name and form (nāma-rūpa); from name-and-form; from created outlines
विमुक्तःvimuktaḥliberated; delivered
परात्parātthan the high (para, ablative); of the highest; of the transcendent
परम्paramto the highest (para); to the supreme; to the sovereign
पुरुषम्puruṣamthe Puruṣa; the Supreme Person
उपैतिupaiticomes to (upa-√i); attains; draws near to
दिव्यम्divyamto the divine (divya); to the heavenly-bright; to the wondrous
Translation
As flowing rivers vanish into the ocean, leaving behind name and form, so the knower, freed from name and form, comes to the divine Puruṣa, higher than the high.
Version
41a18d86d47b · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:10:40 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The Muṇḍaka's final image — rivers and the ocean — and in it the whole precision of its Vedānta. yathā nadyaḥ syandamānāḥ samudre astaṁ gacchanti — "as flowing rivers set into the ocean" (astaṁ gam — "to set", as the sun sets: not to die but to pass out of separateness); nāma-rūpe vihāya — "leaving name and form": the boundaries that distinguished Gaṅgā from Yamunā are handed over along with the banks.
tathā vidvān nāma-rūpād vimuktaḥ — "so the knower, freed from name-and-form" (from creaturely passport-identity: body, family, title — all that is mortal in a man) — parāt paraṁ puruṣam upaiti divyam — "comes to the divine Puruṣa, higher than the high". Here is the word for whose sake the verse is built: upaiti — "comes to" — not "dissolves into": the goal of the path is not a nameless water but a divya puruṣa, a divine Person beyond the highest (beyond even the Akṣara — verse 2.1.2!).
The river that has entered the ocean has lost its banks, not its water; the soul that has entered the Puruṣa loses its mortal outlines, not itself: for the first time it flows at full strength, indistinguishable from the Ocean in its water and forever with Him. Thus the Muṇḍaka reconciles what the schools will later tear apart: complete oneness — and a living Person at the heart of that oneness; the water is one, and the arrival is a meeting.