Upanishads · Kaivalya 13
॥
Devanāgarī
स्वप्ने स जीवः सुखदुःखभोक्ता स्वमायया कल्पितजीवलोके सुषुप्तिकाले सकले विलीने तमो ऽभिभूतः सुखरूपम् एति
Transliteration (IAST)
svapne sa jīvaḥ sukhaduḥkhabhoktā svamāyayā kalpitajīvaloke suṣuptikāle sakale vilīne tamo 'bhibhūtaḥ sukharūpam eti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्वप्ने सः जीवः सुखदुःखभोक्ताsvapne saḥ jīvaḥ sukhaduḥkhabhoktāin dream this jīva is the taster of joy and sorrow; in dream the soul tastes gladness and pain
स्वमायया कल्पितजीवलोकेsvamāyayā kalpitajīvalokein a world of beings fashioned by its own māyā; in a world of creatures built by its own māyā
सुषुप्तिकाले सकले विलीनेsuṣuptikāle sakale vilīnein the time of deep sleep, when all has dissolved; in the hour of suṣupti, when everything has vanished
तमः अभिभूतः सुखरूपम् एतिtamaḥ abhibhūtaḥ sukharūpam etiovercome by darkness, it comes to the form of happiness; engulfed in gloom, it attains the shape of bliss
Translation
In dream this jīva tastes joy and sorrow in a world of beings fashioned by its own māyā; and in the time of deep sleep, when all has dissolved, overcome by darkness, it comes to the form of happiness.
Version
892e8d2f7ae8 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:04:38 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second and third states: dream and dreamless sleep.
Of dream it is said: sva-māyayā kalpita-jīva-loke — “in a world of beings fashioned by its own māyā”.
The sleeper, that is, himself makes the world in which he suffers and rejoices. The Upaniṣads repeat this observation constantly and draw proof from it: the Bṛhadāraṇyaka says that in dream “there are no chariots, no roads, no joys — he creates them himself, for he is the maker”.
Then deep sleep: “when all has dissolved”.
And it is described doubly, in two phrases that must be held together: tamo 'bhibhūtaḥ — “overcome by darkness” — and sukha-rūpam eti, “it comes to the form of happiness”.
That is the exact description. Everyone says on waking: “I slept well and knew nothing.” Well — and knew nothing.
In deep sleep, then, there is good, but no knowing. Hence the Vedānta does not count it the goal: the happiness there is oblivious.
We read the analysis of the same three states in the Māṇḍūkya, quoted whole in the Rāma-tāpanī, and there behind the third stood a fourth.
Here the fourth will be named in the seventeenth and eighteenth verses — not as a state, but as the Witness.