Upanishads · Chāndogya 8,3.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ते इमे सत्याः कामाः अनृतापिधानाः तेषाम् सत्यानाम् सताम् अनृतम् अपिधानम् यः यः हि अस्य इतः प्रैति न तम् इह दर्शनाय लभते
Transliteration (IAST)
te ime satyāḥ kāmāḥ anṛtāpidhānāḥ teṣām satyānām satām anṛtam apidhānam yaḥ yaḥ hi asya itaḥ praiti na tam iha darśanāya labhate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तेteto you; for you
इमेimethese; the present
सत्याःsatyāḥtrue (satya, plural); genuine; true
कामाःkāmāḥdesires; aspirations
अनृतापिधानाःanṛtāpidhānāḥunder a covering of untruth (anṛta-apidhāna — 'with a lid of falsehood'); overlaid with untruth; shut in by falsehood
तेषाम्teṣāmof them; for them
सत्यानाम्satyānāmof the true; of the real
सताम्satāmof what really is (sat, genitive plural); of the actual; of the existent
अनृतम्anṛtamfalsehood; falsehood
अपिधानम्apidhānamthe covering (api-dhāna — 'a lid'); the covering; the screen
यःyaḥwho; the one who
यःyaḥwho; the one who
हिhiindeed; truly
अस्यasyaof this; it
इतःitaḥfrom here; from this world
प्रैतिpraitihe departs (pra + √i — 'he goes forth', he dies); goes forth; dies
नnanot; no
तम्tamit; that one
इहihahere; in this world
दर्शनायdarśanāyato see (darśana, dative — 'for the seeing'); for the beholding; in order to see
लभतेlabhategains; obtains
Translation
These true desires are under a covering of falsehood. They are true, but falsehood is their lid: for whoever of ours departs from here is not to be seen here again.
Version
9153bb57b49d · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:51:21 PM UTC
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The chapter's great diagnosis: te ime satyāḥ kāmā anṛtāpidhānāḥ — "these true desires are under a covering of falsehood". The heart's desires are true at root: longing for the departed, a thirst for beauty, for music, for love — all this is genuine gold. But upon it lies a lid (apidhāna) — anṛta, untruth: a false knowledge of where and how what is sought is to be sought.
And the example given is the bitterest: the dead we loved. They have not vanished — we have seen it: desire the world of the fathers and the fathers arise (8.2.1); but "he is not to be seen here again" — the falsehood that covers our longing bids us seek the living among graves, in the outward, where they are not. Grief for the dead is a true desire for a meeting, read off a false map of the world.
So the chief perplexity of the spiritual life is explained: why, carrying a treasury of everything in the heart, a man lives poor and grieving. Not because there is no treasure — because what is sought is sought in the wrong place. The next verse will cast this into the immortal image of a hoard underfoot.