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Upanishads · Bahvṛcā 6
॥
Devanāgarī
पञ्चरूपपरित्यागा दर्वरूपप्रहाणतः । अधिष्ठानं परं तत्त्वमेकं सच्छिष्यते महत् ॥ इति
Transliteration (IAST)
pañcarūpaparityāgā darvarūpaprahāṇataḥ | adhiṣṭhānaṃ paraṃ tattvamekaṃ sacchiṣyate mahat || iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पञ्च-रूप-परित्यागात्pañca-rūpa-parityāgātfrom abandoning the five forms
अ-वरूप-प्रहाणतःa-varūpa-prahāṇataḥfrom casting off the lower forms
अधिष्ठानं परं तत्त्वम्adhiṣṭhānaṃ paraṃ tattvamthe foundation, the highest truth
एकं सत् शिष्यते महत्ekaṃ sat śiṣyate mahatone great being remains
Translation
«From abandoning the five forms, from casting off the lower forms — there remains one, great: the foundation, the highest truth».
Version
484c26a43829 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
This verse sums up the preceding passage and repeats a device examined reading Sarasvatī-rahasya (4.24): discard name and form, and what remains is being, consciousness, bliss. Let us restate the objection briefly, for this is its last place in this collection. It is true that the name and form of a pot are worldly: a pot has no name of its own, and its form is made by the potter.
But it does not follow that every name and form is worldly; and the Brahma-saṃhitā says sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, “having a body of being, consciousness and bliss” — that is, precisely the three portions one is told to set aside there make up the form itself. Add, too, what is worth noting in the word adhiṣṭhāna, “foundation.” It literally means “that on which one stands”; and in the non-dual school it denotes that onto which an appearance is superimposed — the rope beneath the snake, the shell beneath the silver.
That is, what remains is the backing. The Vaiṣṇava side answers this with its usual distinction, cited reading Varāha (3.15): in a mirage there is nothing but sand; in a shell there is no silver; but the world acts — it feeds, wounds and heals. And so the foundation spoken of here is for it not a backing beneath a deception but the source of what is real; and the difference between “beneath this there is nothing” and “this is made of that” is the whole difference between the two readings.