Upanishads · Mahā 2.56
॥
Devanāgarī
धर्माधर्मौ सुखं दुःखं तथा मरणजन्मनी धिया येन सुसंत्यक्तं स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
dharmādharmau sukhaṃ duḥkhaṃ tathā maraṇajanmanī dhiyā yena susaṃtyaktaṃ sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
धर्म-अधर्मौ सुखम् दुःखम्dharma-adharmau sukham duḥkhamdharma and adharma, joy, sorrow; righteousness and unrighteousness, happiness, suffering
तथा मरण-जन्मनीtathā maraṇa-janmanīlikewise death and birth; as also decease and birth
धिया येन सु-संत्यक्तम्dhiyā yena su-saṃtyaktamby whom through reason all is fully relinquished; by whom by understanding all this is soundly let go
सः जीवन्मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvanmuktaḥ ucyatehe is called liberated while living; he is named free while yet alive
Translation
“By whom righteousness and unrighteousness, happiness and suffering, death and birth are fully relinquished through reason — he is called liberated while living.”
Version
b1256943bd4f · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
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The fifteenth mark matters for one word: dhiyā — “through reason”.
All these lettings-go are accomplished not by feeling and not by effort of will, but by understanding. Not “he stopped minding”, but “he has seen through it”.
This is what distinguishes the path of knowledge from mere dulling. The man does not smother in himself the response to death and birth — he sees what they are, and therefore does not clutch at them.
Note the composition of the list: three pairs of opposites, the last of which — death and birth — is set as the sum. Righteousness and sin, happiness and suffering are the stuff of which birth and death are made; letting go the former, one lets go the latter.
The following verses (2.63 onward) will explain what happens when such a man's appointed hour comes.