Upanishads · Mantrikā 6
॥
Devanāgarī
पिबन्त्येनामविषयामविज्ञातां कुमारकाः । एकस्तु पिबते देवः स्वच्छन्दोऽत्र वशानुगः
Transliteration (IAST)
pibantyenāmaviṣayāmavijñātāṃ kumārakāḥ | ekastu pibate devaḥ svacchando'tra vaśānugaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पिबन्ति एनाम् अविषयाम्pibanti enām aviṣayāmthey drink her, the imperceptible one; they imbibe her, ungraspable by the senses
अविज्ञाताम् कुमारकाःavijñātām kumārakāḥthe unknown one — the striplings; the unrecognised one — the youths
एकः तु पिबते देवःekaḥ tu pibate devaḥbut one drinks — God; while the one who drinks is the god
स्वच्छन्दः अत्र वशानुगःsvacchandaḥ atra vaśānugaḥself-willed here, obedient there; sovereign here, submissive there
Translation
The striplings drink her, imperceptible and unknown; but one drinks — God, self-willed here, and obedient there.
Version
1e54a83a9fed · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:00:17 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second great passage of the book, and it is about the difference between the soul and the Lord.
Both drink the same one: pibanti enām — “they drink her”, the very cow of the previous verse.
But the drinkers differ. Kumārakāḥ — “striplings, little ones”; so the book calls the jīvas. And ekas tu pibate devaḥ — “but one drinks: God”.
The image is from the Muṇḍaka, where two birds sit on one tree: one pecks the fruit, the other looks on without eating. Here it is altered: both drink, but differently.
And the difference is named by two words set side by side: svacchandaḥ and vaśānugaḥ — “self-willed” and “going under another's will”.
This can be read in two ways, and both come to the same. Either: God is self-willed, and the striplings are subject. Or, as the commentator takes it: He is free, while they are under the power of the very thing they drink.
Here is the whole difference between jīva and Īśvara in half a line. They drink one thing; but one is the master of the draught, and the others are intoxicated by it.
Note the word aviṣayā — “not an object of the senses”. They drink what they do not see.