Upanishads · Mahā 3.4
॥
Devanāgarī
जायते म्रियते लोको म्रियते जननाय च अस्थिरः सर्व एवेमे सचराचरचेष्टिताः सर्वापदां पदं पापा भावा विभवभूमयः
Transliteration (IAST)
jāyate mriyate loko mriyate jananāya ca asthiraḥ sarva eveme sacarācaraceṣṭitāḥ sarvāpadāṃ padaṃ pāpā bhāvā vibhavabhūmayaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जायते म्रियते लोकःjāyate mriyate lokaḥthe world is born, dies; people are born and die
म्रियते जननाय चmriyate jananāya caand dies in order to be born; and die for the sake of new birth
अस्थिरः सर्वे एव इमेasthiraḥ sarve eva imeall these are unstable; all of them are unsteady
स-चर-अचर-चेष्टिताःsa-cara-acara-ceṣṭitāḥthe moving and unmoving in their labours; the mobile and immobile in their strivings
सर्व-आपदाम् पदम्sarva-āpadām padamthe abode of all calamities; the dwelling of every misfortune
पापाः भावाः विभव-भूमयःpāpāḥ bhāvāḥ vibhava-bhūmayaḥevil are the states, the grounds of prosperity; corrupt are all conditions, the foundations of well-being
Translation
“The world is born and dies, and dies in order to be born again. All is unstable — both the moving and the unmoving in their labours; all is the abode of calamities, and the very grounds of prosperity are evil.”
Version
8f42f7b0b8c4 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Nidāgha's first observation is of the circle, and it is said with two verbs set crosswise.
“Is born, dies — and dies in order to be born.” Not “life ends in death”, but “death serves birth”. The circle is closed at both ends.
Then the enumeration: the moving and the unmoving — that is, all that lives without exception.
And the last line is the sharpest: vibhava-bhūmayaḥ pāpāḥ — “the grounds of prosperity are evil”. What is condemned is not disaster but precisely that on which success is built.
This is a turn of thought worth looking at closely. Usually the world is berated for its suffering. Nidāgha goes further: what is suspect is not the suffering but the very foundation on which we raise our welfare. It will not hold.