Upanishads · Mahā 2.57
॥
Devanāgarī
उद्वेगानन्दरहितः समया स्वच्छया धिया न शोचते न चोदेति स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
udvegānandarahitaḥ samayā svacchayā dhiyā na śocate na codeti sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
उद्वेग-आनन्द-रहितःudvega-ānanda-rahitaḥvoid of agitation and elation; a stranger to anxiety and rapture
समया स्वच्छया धियाsamayā svacchayā dhiyāwith an even, transparent reason; with a level and clear understanding
न शोचते न च उदेतिna śocate na ca udetineither grieves nor soars; is not saddened nor carried aloft
सः जीवन्मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvanmuktaḥ ucyatehe is called liberated while living; he is named free while yet alive
Translation
“Who is a stranger to both anxiety and rapture, who with an even, clear reason neither grieves nor soars — he is called liberated while living.”
Version
c93db447c1d5 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The sixteenth mark repeats the third (2.43) — but with one addition, for whose sake it stands apart.
There it was said that the man is neither tossed up nor bent down. Here the instrument is named: samā svacchā dhī — “an even, transparent reason”.
Two qualifiers. Sama — “even”, without a tilt toward the desired. Svaccha — “transparent”, that through which one sees, not that which is itself seen.
The second is the weightier. A clouded mind screens the object with itself: we see not the event but our own excitement about it. The transparent one does not screen.
The word ānanda here, unlike elsewhere in the book, stands in the bad company — beside anxiety. The speech is not of the Ātman's bliss but of elation: the surge after which a slump is inevitable. That is why they are set as a pair.