Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 5.11
॥
Devanāgarī
संकल्पनस्पर्शनदृष्टिमोहैर् ग्रासाम्बुवृष्ट्या चात्मविवृद्धिजन्म ।
कर्मानुगान्य् अनुक्रमेन देही स्थानेषु रूपाण्य् अभिसंप्रपद्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
saṃkalpanasparśanadṛṣṭimohair grāsāmbuvṛṣṭyā cātmavivṛddhijanma /
karmānugāny anukramena dehī sthāneṣu rūpāṇy abhisaṃprapadyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
संकल्पनस्पर्शनदृष्टिमोहैःsaṃkalpanasparśanadṛṣṭimohaiḥby will, touch, sight and delusion; by volition, contact, the gaze and beguilement
ग्रासाम्बुवृष्ट्याgrāsāmbuvṛṣṭyāby food, water and rain; by fare, moisture and downpour
चcaand; as well as
आत्मविवृद्धिजन्मātmavivṛddhijanmathe growth and birth of the embodied; the increase and the coming into the world
कर्मानुगानिkarmānugānifollowing upon deeds; in accordance with his acts
अनुक्रमेणanukrameṇain succession; in due order
देहीdehīthe embodied one; the wearer of a body
स्थानेषुsthāneṣuin various places; place by place
रूपाणिrūpāṇiforms; shapes
अभिसंप्रपद्यतेabhisaṃprapadyatehe assumes; he takes on one after another
Translation
By will, touch, sight and delusion, by food, water and rain, the growth and birth of the embodied comes about; and in accordance with his deeds, in due order, he assumes form after form in various places.
Version
dfcc91b81acb · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The mantra describes how the soul gets a body, and does it in two series at once — inner and outer.
The inner series: will, touch, sight and delusion. It all begins with saṁkalpana — with a desire that the mind has painted for itself; then the senses enter in; then moha, beguilement, when what was imagined seems necessary. Thus grows what draws one toward a new body.
The outer series is quite simple: food, water, rain. The body is built up out of what is eaten, and what is eaten out of the rain that has fallen. The same route is described in detail in the Upaniṣads as the soul's descent with the rain into plants and into food; here it is named in three words.
And one phrase joins both series: karma-anugāni, "following upon deeds". Neither desire nor rain acts of itself — the law of deeds brings them together. Of the executor of that law the Upaniṣad will speak in the next mantra, and this will be its chief move in this adhyāya.
The word anukrameṇa, "in due order", adds sobriety: the change of bodies goes in sequence, step by step; no shape falls out by chance.