Upanishads · Mahā 2.76
॥
Devanāgarī
तत्र वर्षसहस्राणि निर्विकल्पसमाधिना देशे स्थित्वा शशामासावात्मन्यस्नेहदीपवत्
Transliteration (IAST)
tatra varṣasahasrāṇi nirvikalpasamādhinā deśe sthitvā śaśāmāsāvātmanyasnehadīpavat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत्र वर्ष-सहस्राणिtatra varṣa-sahasrāṇithere for thousands of years; there, through thousands of years
निर्विकल्प-समाधिनाnirvikalpa-samādhināin samādhi without distinctions; in concentration free of differentiations
देशे स्थित्वा शशाम असौdeśe sthitvā śaśāma asauhaving stayed in that place, he went out; having abode on that spot, he grew still
आत्मनि अस्नेह-दीप-वत्ātmani asneha-dīpa-vatin the Ātman, like a lamp without oil; in himself, as a lamp whose oil is spent
Translation
Having stayed there thousands of years in concentration without distinctions, he grew still in the Ātman — like a lamp without oil.
Version
1e1932c69274 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
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The word nirvikalpa returns to verse 2.34: the round is born of vikalpa, the work of distinguishing. Samādhi without vikalpa is, then, the state where that work stands still.
The image of the end — “like a lamp without oil” — takes up the gata-sneha of 2.47, where sneha meant both “attachment” and “oil”. The wordplay works here at full strength: he goes out whose attachment, not whose fuel, has run dry.
Note what the image does not contain. The lamp was neither blown out nor broken. It burned while there was something to burn, and ceased when there was not.
This is an important difference. The going-out is described not as violence done to life, but as its natural issue when the cause of burning is spent.
The word śaśāma — “grew still” — is of the same root as praśama in Śuka's question (2.15): “how does this clamour come to stillness”. The question was about saṁsāra; the answer is given by the asker's own life.