Upanishads · Chāndogya 8,10.2
॥
Devanāgarī
न वधेन अस्य हन्यते न अस्य स्राम्येण स्रामः घ्नन्ति तु एव एनम् विच्छादयन्ति इव अप्रियवेत्ता इव भवति अपि रोदितीव न अहम् अत्र भोग्यम् पश्यामि इति
Transliteration (IAST)
na vadhena asya hanyate na asya srāmyeṇa srāmaḥ ghnanti tu eva enam vicchādayanti iva apriyavettā iva bhavati api roditīva na aham atra bhogyam paśyāmi iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नnanot; no
वधेनvadhenawhen it is slain (vadha, instrumental); by slaying; by killing
अस्यasyaof this; it
हन्यतेhanyateit is slain (passive of √han); it is struck down; it is put to death
नnanot; no
अस्यasyaof this; it
स्राम्येणsrāmyeṇaby lameness; by injury
स्रामःsrāmaḥlame; the impaired one
घ्नन्तिghnantithey kill him (from √han, plural); they beat; they strike him
तुtubut; surely
एवevaindeed; surely
एनम्enamit; of this
विच्छादयन्तिvicchādayantithey strip him (vi + √chad, causative — 'they tear off the covering'); they lay him bare; they pull off his clothes
इवivaas it were; as though
अप्रियवेत्ताapriyavettāhe comes to know what is unpleasant (apriya-vettṛ — 'the experiencer of the unwelcome'); one who tastes the disagreeable; one who suffers what is bitter
इवivaas it were; as though
भवतिbhavatirevered lady; madam
अपिapieven; also
रोदितीवroditīvahe seems to weep (roditi + iva); he as it were wails; he appears to cry
नnanot; no
अहम्ahamI; I myself
अत्रatrahere; within
भोग्यम्bhogyamthe acceptable; worthy of enjoyment
पश्यामिpaśyāmiI see; hold
इतिitithus; how
Translation
…he is not slain when the body is slain, he is not lame with its lameness — yet it is as if they slay him, as if they strip him; as if bitter things befall him, as if he even weeps. I see nothing gladdening in this."
Version
b9b8c5eae9fc · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:54:28 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The objection to the dreamer is one of the Upaniṣad's subtlest observations of sleep: the body lies safe, yet the dreamer is "as if slain, as if stripped… as if he even weeps" (api roditīva). Four times iva — "as if": suffering in a dream is imaginary in its object and real in its experience; a dreamer's tears are wet in waking life. Freedom from bodily defects has not saved him from fear and grief — he brings them along, from within.
Indra's diagnosis is deeper than it looks: misfortunes come to the dreamer with no external cause at all — which means their source is in the mind itself, and a change of world (from waking to dream, from earth to heaven!) does not cure them. He who carries anxiety within will be chased in his dreams even in paradise. The ātman, "free from sorrow" (8.1.5), cannot be one who "as if weeps" — and Indra turns back once more.