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Upanishads · Śāṭyāyanīya 22
॥
Devanāgarī
आत्मानं चेद्विजानीयादयमस्मीति पूरुषः । किमिच्छन्कस्य कामाय शरीरमनुसंज्वरेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
ātmānaṃ cedvijānīyādayamasmīti pūruṣaḥ | kimicchankasya kāmāya śarīramanusaṃjvaret
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आत्मानं चेत् विजानीयात्ātmānaṃ cet vijānīyātif a person should know the self
अयम् अस्मि इति पूरुषःayam asmi iti pūruṣaḥ"here I am," the person
किम् इच्छन् कस्य कामायkim icchan kasya kāmāyadesiring what, for whose desire's sake
शरीरम् अनुसंज्वरेत्śarīram anusaṃjvaretwould he go on tormenting the body
Translation
"If a person should know the self [and say]: 'here I am' — desiring what, for whose desire's sake, would he go on tormenting the body?"
Version
deeb62150682 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse is taken word for word from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka (4.4.12), and it is worth examining, for it is often cited and usually imprecisely. The verb anusaṃjvaret means "to torment, to make feverish," from jvar, "to burn, to have a fever": literally "to burn the body in pursuit of something." That is, it speaks of one who torments the body for the sake of what is desired: works beyond his strength, chases, hoards.
And it is said: one who has known — what would he have left to desire? It is worth noting the phrase kasya kāmāya, "for whose desire's sake." It is deliberately ambiguous: one can read "for whose desire" or "for what object." The Vaiṣṇava side looks at this verse without dispute and cites it herself; her remark concerns a single word.
It is said ayam asmi, "here I am"; and this phrase, read on its own, is a statement about oneself. But in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka it stands within a conversation, and Yājñavalkya says it to Janaka; that is, even this statement is uttered before another. Let us add what she adds to this position and what makes it practical.
Desire departs not because a person has learned something about himself, but because he has been sated; and that taste withdraws only param dṛṣṭvā, "upon seeing the higher" (Gītā 2.59), has been said more than once. Read this way, the verse becomes verifiable: one who has stopped burning himself has known; one who still chases has merely learned the words.