अथातः आत्मादेशः एव आत्मा एव अधस्तात् आत्मा उपरिष्टात् आत्मा पश्चात् आत्मा पुरस्तात् आत्मा दक्षिणतः आत्मा उत्तरतः आत्मा एव इदम् सर्वम् इति सः वै एषः एवम् पश्यन् एवम् मन्वानः एवम् विजानन् आत्मरतिः आत्मक्रीडः आत्ममिथुनः आत्मानन्दः सः स्वराट् भवति तस्य सर्वेषु लोकेषु कामचारः भवति अथ ये अन्यथातः विदुः अन्यराजानः ते क्षय्यलोकाः भवन्ति तेषाम् सर्वेषु लोकेषु अकामचारः भवति
athātaḥ ātmādeśaḥ eva ātmā eva adhastāt ātmā upariṣṭāt ātmā paścāt ātmā purastāt ātmā dakṣiṇataḥ ātmā uttarataḥ ātmā eva idam sarvam iti saḥ vai eṣaḥ evam paśyan evam manvānaḥ evam vijānan ātmaratiḥ ātmakrīḍaḥ ātmamithunaḥ ātmānandaḥ saḥ svarāṭ bhavati tasya sarveṣu lokeṣu kāmacāraḥ bhavati atha ye anyathātaḥ viduḥ anyarājānaḥ te kṣayyalokāḥ bhavanti teṣām sarveṣu lokeṣu akāmacāraḥ bhavati
Next, the instruction by way of the ātman: "The ātman is below, the ātman is above, the ātman is behind, the ātman is in front, the ātman is on the right, the ātman is on the left. The ātman is all this." He who sees thus, thinks thus, knows thus delights in the ātman, plays with the ātman, is united with the ātman, is blissful in the ātman. He is his own sovereign and moves freely through all the worlds. But those who know otherwise are subject to others, their worlds are perishable, and they have no free movement in any world.
18ea6623d70c · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:48:34 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The lesson's definitive redaction is by way of the ātman: neither an impersonal "all" nor an inflated "I", but the ātman — the Soul of souls — on all six sides. And the fruit is described in words that have few equals in the Veda for boldness: ātma-ratir ātma-krīḍa ātma-mithuna ātmānandaḥ — the knower "delights in the ātman, plays with the ātman, is united with the ātman, is blissful in the ātman". Not the calm of extinction but rati, krīḍā, mithuna: delight, play, union! The highest state is described in the language of love, almost of marriage; the Upaniṣad itself testifies: at the summit there is no silent void but a mutuality — with Someone one plays and by Someone one is blissful.
Gauḍīya Vedānta hears here a direct promise of rasa: the soul is made for play with the Boundless — the very līlā that Vṛndāvana knows as the highest reality. And the fruit of freedom: svarāṭ bhavati — "he becomes self-sovereign": over one who is in union with the Lord of all, nothing has power; "in all the worlds he has free movement" — the kāma-cāra which the ladder promised at every rung in small measure is here given in full.
The reverse side is severe: those "who know otherwise are anyarājānaḥ, subject to others": whoever has not the ātman for king has a thing, a passion, a superior, or fate for king; and their worlds are perishable. There is no third case: either the soul is with its own Sovereign — and free — or with strangers, and in hire.