Upanishads · Kaivalya 12
॥
Devanāgarī
स एव मायापरिमोहितात्मा शरीरम् आस्थाय करोति सर्वम् स्त्रियन्नपानादिविचित्रभोगैः स एव जाग्रत् परितृप्तिम् एति
Transliteration (IAST)
sa eva māyāparimohitātmā śarīram āsthāya karoti sarvam striyannapānādivicitrabhogaiḥ sa eva jāgrat paritṛptim eti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सः एव मायापरिमोहितात्माsaḥ eva māyāparimohitātmāhe too, his self bewildered by māyā; the same one, his “I” deluded by māyā
शरीरम् आस्थाय करोति सर्वम्śarīram āsthāya karoti sarvamtaking a body, does everything; settling in a body, performs all
स्त्री अन्न पान आदि विचित्रभोगैःstrī anna pāna ādi vicitrabhogaiḥwith woman, food, drink and various delights; with wives, viands, drink and manifold pleasures
सः एव जाग्रत् परितृप्तिम् एतिsaḥ eva jāgrat paritṛptim etihe too in waking comes to satisfaction; he in the waking state attains contentment
Translation
He too, his self bewildered by māyā, taking a body, does everything; and he too, in the waking state, comes to satisfaction with woman, food, drink and various delights.
Version
2eb60026fbf6 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:04:38 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The analysis of the three states begins, and the first is waking.
The verse's opening ties it to those before: sa eva — “he too, the same one”. The very one just called Brahmā, Viṣṇu and all the rest — is the one who eats and drinks.
But the defining word is added: māyā-parimohitātmā — “his self bewildered by māyā”.
Here one must read carefully, for at this point the schools part ways.
One reading: there is no difference at all, and the seeming difference is delusion. The other, held by the Vaiṣṇava Vedānta: what is bewildered is not the Highest but the jīva, one in essence with Him; “he too” is said of oneness of nature, not of person.
The book itself speaks for the second. The eighth verse called Him “the witness of all, beyond the darkness”; here the subject is one covered by darkness. The witness and the covered are not one.
Note the list of delights: woman, food, drink. The book neither scolds them nor lingers over them; it only observes that satisfaction in them belongs to waking.
Paritṛpti — “full satisfaction”. The word is chosen exactly: it happens; and it ends.