Upanishads · Mahā 3.11
॥
Devanāgarī
युज्यते वेष्टनं वायोराकाशस्य च खण्डनम् ग्रन्थनं च तरङ्गाणामास्था नायुषि युज्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
yujyate veṣṭanaṃ vāyorākāśasya ca khaṇḍanam granthanaṃ ca taraṅgāṇāmāsthā nāyuṣi yujyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
युज्यते वेष्टनम् वायोःyujyate veṣṭanam vāyoḥone may swaddle the wind; it is conceivable to bind up the wind
आकाशस्य च खण्डनम्ākāśasya ca khaṇḍanamand cleave space asunder; and to shatter the expanse
ग्रन्थनम् च तरङ्गाणाम्granthanam ca taraṅgāṇāmand string the waves together; and to knot the waves
आस्था न आयुषि युज्यतेāsthā na āyuṣi yujyatebut on life no reliance can be placed; but to rely on the life-span is impossible
Translation
“Sooner may one swaddle the wind, cleave space asunder and knot the waves together, than place reliance on the span of life.”
Version
8da7f4cdf784 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Three impossibilities in a row — and a fourth declared more impossible still.
The device is familiar, but here it is done with taste. To swaddle the wind, to cut space, to tie up the waves: in all three cases things are taken that have neither surface nor constant part to grasp by.
And the conclusion: the span of life is still harder to take hold of.
Note the word āsthā — “reliance, calculation, footing”. The point is not that life is short. The point is that it cannot be counted on: it may end tomorrow or in forty years, and both possibilities are equally plausible.
It is precisely this incalculability, not brevity, that makes every postponed design unwise.