Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 5.14
॥
Devanāgarī
भावग्राह्यम् अनीडाख्यं भावाभावकरं शिवं ।
कलासर्गकरं देवं ये विदुस् ते जहुस् तनुम्
Transliteration (IAST)
bhāvagrāhyam anīḍākhyaṃ bhāvābhāvakaraṃ śivaṃ /
kalāsargakaraṃ devaṃ ye vidus te jahus tanum
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
भावग्राह्यम्bhāvagrāhyamgraspable by feeling; caught by the heart's disposition
अनीडाख्यम्anīḍākhyamnamed the Nestless; called the one without a nest
भावाभावकरम्bhāvābhāvakarammaker of being and non-being; producing appearance and disappearance
शिवम्śivamthe Benign One; the gracious one
कलासर्गकरम्kalāsargakaramwho brings forth the parts; who emits the kalās — the portions of the cosmos
देवम्devamGod; the Deity
ये विदुःye viduḥthey who know; those who know Him
ते जहुः तनुम्te jahuḥ tanumthey have left the body; they have cast off bodiliness
Translation
Graspable by feeling, named the Nestless, maker of being and non-being, the Benign One who brings forth the parts of the cosmos — they who know God have left the body.
Version
e93df43a1ee3 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
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The concluding mantra of the adhyāya, and in it stands the phrase around which a whole theology has grown: bhāva-grāhyam, "graspable by feeling".
The word bhāva means a disposition of the heart, a mood, a feeling — not a thought and not a perception. What is said, then, is that God is taken hold of neither by reasoning nor by the eye but by that with which one loves. The Upaniṣad has three times said that He is apprehended "by the heart, by discernment and by the mind", putting the heart first; here it names the instrument outright.
On this line the whole of later Vaiṣṇava Vedānta rests. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa cites it in the Govinda-bhāṣya to show that to contemplate God as father, friend or son is no human liberty but a lawful way, since śruti itself has declared Him subject to feeling. Here too is the root of the word bhāva in the sense the doctrine of the rasas will give it.
The second name is anīḍa, "the Nestless": having no nest, that is, not tied to a place and needing no dwelling. He who is "graspable by feeling" is not shut up in any house.
Then: "maker of being and non-being" — that is, both of the appearance of things and of their vanishing; and "who brings forth the parts", kalā — the portions of which the cosmos is composed.
And the fruit is stated shortly and strongly: te jahuḥ tanum — "they have left the body". Not "will leave"; it is said in the past tense, as of something accomplished: one who has known Him is no longer bound by the body, even while he goes on living in it.