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Upanishads · Sarasvatīrahasya 4.26
॥
Devanāgarī
दृश्यशब्दानुभेदेन स विकल्पः पुनर्द्विधा । कामाद्याश्चित्तगा दृश्यास्तत्साक्षित्वेन चेतनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
dṛśyaśabdānubhedena sa vikalpaḥ punardvidhā | kāmādyāścittagā dṛśyāstatsākṣitvena cetanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
दृश्य-शब्द-अनुभेदेनdṛśya-śabda-anubhedenaby the distinction of the seen and the word
सः विकल्पः पुनः द्विधाsaḥ vikalpaḥ punaḥ dvidhāthat with distinction is again twofold
काम-आद्याः चित्त-गाः दृश्याःkāma-ādyāḥ citta-gāḥ dṛśyāḥdesire and the rest, moving in consciousness, are the seen
तत्-साक्षित्वेन चेतनम्tat-sākṣitvena cetanamconsciousness, as their witness
Translation
By the distinction of the seen and the word, that [samādhi] with distinction is again twofold. Desire and the rest, moving in consciousness, are the seen; consciousness [regards them] as their witness.
Version
5242fbe3f06d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The first of the two is described: samādhi by the seen. Its object is kāma-ādyāḥ citta-gāḥ, "desire and the rest, moving in consciousness"; and the one contemplating looks upon them sākṣitvena, "as a witness." That is, one is enjoined not to drive out desires but to look upon them as an outsider.
This device, to my mind, is the best of all offered in these books concerning desires, and it is worth saying why. The others commanded destroying or thinning them; and we noted when reading the Varāha (4.5) that what is thinned by effort holds as long as the effort lasts. Here it is commanded instead to change the position of the one looking: the desire remains, but I stop being it.
And this device truly works, as anyone can verify: a noticed desire weakens, for it lives as long as one is identified with it. The Vaiṣṇava side knows this device and does not reject it; but she sets a limit to it, and this limit is worth voicing. Witnessing is not an occupation but an abstention from occupation; and a person cannot spend his whole life watching himself from the side, for one must look at something.
Hence her rule requires not witnessing but replacement; and the Gītā's verse 2.59, cited more than once, says precisely this: taste departs param dṛṣṭvā, "upon seeing the higher," not from staring at the taste.