Upanishads · Mahā 2.34
॥
Devanāgarī
मनोविकल्पसंजातं तद्विकल्पपरिक्षयात् क्षीयते दग्धसंसारो निःसार इति निश्चितः
Transliteration (IAST)
manovikalpasaṃjātaṃ tadvikalpaparikṣayāt kṣīyate dagdhasaṃsāro niḥsāra iti niścitaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मनः-विकल्प-संजातम्manaḥ-vikalpa-saṃjātamborn of the mind's constructing; engendered by the surmise of consciousness
तत्-विकल्प-परिक्षयात्tat-vikalpa-parikṣayātfrom the utter wasting of that constructing; upon the complete vanishing of that surmise
क्षीयते दग्ध-संसारःkṣīyate dagdha-saṃsāraḥit wanes; the round is burnt; it dwindles, saṁsāra is burnt away
निःसारः इति निश्चितःniḥsāraḥ iti niścitaḥwithout pith — so it is settled; void of substance — so it is established
Translation
“The round is born of the mind's constructing and wanes when the constructing perishes without remainder; burnt, it proves to be without pith — this is settled.”
Version
2a5740686c76 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Now Śuka states in his own words what he has heard. The whole science fits into one line.
Vikalpa is an exact and difficult word. It is the mind's power of parcelling the undivided into “this and that”, of estimating, of surmising. Not imagination in the sense of fancy, but precisely the dissecting work of thought.
The book's assertion: the round is born of this work. It is not the body that holds us, nor the world, but the mind's habit of cutting what is into the wanted and the unwanted.
Hence the method: the vikalpa perishes — the round perishes.
The word niḥsāra, “without pith”, is not the same as “does not exist”. No pith — no kernel for whose sake it is worth clinging. As with the pageant of 2.15: thunder there is, substance there is none.
Here it is useful to say plainly where Vaiṣṇava Vedānta draws the line. That the world is empty without God — with this it agrees entirely. That the world therefore does not exist — with this, no: it exists and belongs to Him. What must be extinguished is not the world, but the surmise that the world is mine.