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Upanishads · Sarasvatīrahasya 4.29
॥
Devanāgarī
निर्विकल्पः समाधिः स्यान्निवान्तस्थितदीपवत् । हृदीव बाह्यदेशेऽपि यस्मिन्कस्मिंश्च वस्तुनि
Transliteration (IAST)
nirvikalpaḥ samādhiḥ syānnivāntasthitadīpavat | hṛdīva bāhyadeśe'pi yasminkasmiṃśca vastuni
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
निर्विकल्पः समाधिः स्यात्nirvikalpaḥ samādhiḥ syātsamādhi without distinction occurs
निवात-स्थ-दीप-वत्nivāta-stha-dīpa-vatlike a lamp standing in windlessness
हृदि इव बाह्य-देशे अपिhṛdi iva bāhya-deśe apias in the heart, so in an outer place as well
यस्मिन् कस्मिन् च वस्तुनिyasmin kasmin ca vastunion whatever object it may be
Translation
There is samādhi without distinction, like a lamp standing in windlessness; and, as in the heart, so also in an outer place, on whatever object it may be …
Version
cefafb936e48 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The comparison with a lamp in windlessness is cited, discussed when reading the Saubhāgyalakṣmī (3.7); and it was noted there that the Gītā takes the same image (6.19). Let us repeat briefly: a flame is remarkable in that it does not flicker when there is no wind; and so it is an image of a mind with no cause to tremble. It is worth noting an addition absent from the Gītā: yasmin kasmin ca vastuni, "on whatever object it may be."
That is, indistinct samādhi is possible on any object: not a chosen one, but whatever comes first. This detail is telling and worth voicing. If the object is indifferent, it is not needed either; and all the work turns to the state of the one looking.
Here the Vaiṣṇava side sets down her own view, and the difference is clearest of all. Her concentration is not on just any object: it is on a form taken from scripture, as was discussed when reading the Varāha (5.32) and (5.40). Her argument was cited there, and let us repeat it briefly: what is imagined obeys the imaginer, but what is real does not; and so the object must be given, not chosen.
Let us add what follows in substance from the present addition: a teaching in which the object is indifferent is a teaching about oneself; and a teaching in which the object is appointed is a teaching about relationship.