Upanishads · Mahā 2.61
॥
Devanāgarī
शान्तसंसारकलनः कलावानपि निष्कलः यः सचित्तोऽपि निश्चित्तः स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
śāntasaṃsārakalanaḥ kalāvānapi niṣkalaḥ yaḥ sacitto'pi niścittaḥ sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शान्त-संसार-कलनःśānta-saṃsāra-kalanaḥin whom the notion of saṁsāra is stilled; in whom the positing of the round has subsided
कलावान् अपि निष्कलःkalāvān api niṣkalaḥhaving parts, yet partless; possessed of portions, yet without portions
यः स-चित्तः अपि निश्चित्तःyaḥ sa-cittaḥ api niścittaḥwho has a mind, yet is mindless; who, having consciousness, is still without it
सः जीवन्मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvanmuktaḥ ucyatehe is called liberated while living; he is named free while yet alive
Translation
“In whom the positing of the round has subsided, who having parts is partless, and having a mind is mindless — he is called liberated while living.”
Version
0df7a4295c9d · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The twentieth mark is built on two contradictions in a row, and both are about one thing.
“Having parts, partless”: he has a body with its limbs, a station, a name, kinship — everything of which a man is composed. And withal he is niṣkala, “undivided”, because he does not take himself for the sum of these parts.
“Having a mind, mindless”: the citta works — thinks, remembers, reckons. But it has ceased to be what he is.
Here is the exact definition of freedom that none of the preceding verses gives. Freedom is not in having nothing, but in not being what you have.
The first half-verse gives the cause: śānta-saṃsāra-kalana, “the positing of the round has subsided”. Again kalanā (see 2.53). Not saṁsāra has subsided — the mind's work that kept carving it up has subsided.