Upanishads · Kaivalya 15
॥
Devanāgarī
आधारम् आनन्दम् अखण्डबोधं यस्मिंल् लयं याति पुरत्रयं च एतस्माज् जायते प्राणो मनः सर्वेन्द्रियाणि च खं वायुर् ज्योतिर् आपः पृथिवी विश्वस्य धारिणी
Transliteration (IAST)
ādhāram ānandam akhaṇḍabodhaṃ yasmiṃl layaṃ yāti puratrayaṃ ca etasmāj jāyate prāṇo manaḥ sarvendriyāṇi ca khaṃ vāyur jyotir āpaḥ pṛthivī viśvasya dhāriṇī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आधारम् आनन्दम् अखण्डबोधम्ādhāram ānandam akhaṇḍabodhamthe support, the bliss, the unbroken knowing; the ground, the joy, the whole awareness
यस्मिन् लयम् याति पुरत्रयम् चyasmin layam yāti puratrayam cain which the three cities dissolve; in which the three strongholds vanish
एतस्मात् जायते प्राणः मनःetasmāt jāyate prāṇaḥ manaḥfrom this are born the breath, the mind; from it proceed prāṇa and manas
सर्वेन्द्रियाणि चsarvendriyāṇi caand all the senses; and all the organs
खम् वायुः ज्योतिः आपःkham vāyuḥ jyotiḥ āpaḥspace, wind, light, the waters; ether, vāyu, fire, the waters
पृथिवी विश्वस्य धारिणीpṛthivī viśvasya dhāriṇīthe earth, the upholder of the universe; the earth, bearer of the world
Translation
The support, the bliss, the unbroken knowing — that in which the three cities dissolve; from it are born the breath, the mind and all the senses, space, wind, light, the waters, and the earth, the upholder of the universe.
Version
5d24f76a3e56 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:04:38 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
What lies beyond the three cities is named, and named in three words.
Ādhāra — “the support, the ground”: that on which the three states rest. Ānanda — “bliss”. Akhaṇḍa-bodha — “unbroken knowing”.
The last answers directly what was said of deep sleep. There, happiness was present and knowing absent; here both are together, and the knowing is called unbroken — that is, not splitting into knower and known.
Then: “in which the three cities dissolve”.
The verb laya — “dissolution”. Not “vanish for ever”: they dissolve, as salt in water.
The second half of the verse unfolds the usual order of creation: from Him — breath, mind and senses; then the five elements in the customary order, from the subtlest to the grossest.
We read this series in the Taittirīya and in the first khaṇḍa of the Subāla.
Note the closing words: pṛthivī viśvasya dhāriṇī — “the earth, the upholder of the universe”.
The ladder of creation ends at what one's feet stand on. And that is right: the book leads the reader from the lotus of the heart down to the earth and back.