Upanishads · Mahā 3.12
॥
Devanāgarī
प्राप्यं सम्प्राप्यते येन भूयो येन न शोच्यते पराया निर्वृतेः स्थानं यत्तज्जीवितमुच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
prāpyaṃ samprāpyate yena bhūyo yena na śocyate parāyā nirvṛteḥ sthānaṃ yattajjīvitamucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
प्राप्यम् सम्प्राप्यते येनprāpyam samprāpyate yenaby which the attainable is attained; that whereby the thing to be gained is gained
भूयः येन न शोच्यतेbhūyaḥ yena na śocyateby which one grieves no more; and whereby one need sorrow no further
परायाः निर्वृतेः स्थानम्parāyāḥ nirvṛteḥ sthānamthe abode of the highest contentment; the seat of supreme satisfaction
यत् तत् जीवितम् उच्यतेyat tat jīvitam ucyatethat is what is called life; precisely that is named life
Translation
“That by which the attainable is attained, by which one grieves no more, that which is the abode of the highest contentment — that is what is called life.”
Version
4e61564b4209 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
After four verses on life's frailty — a definition of what deserves to be called life.
Three marks. By it the attainable is attained. After it there is no grieving. It is the seat of the highest contentment.
Note that all three are said of a way of living, not of a span. The word jīvita here is not “duration of existence” but “that which is life itself”.
Put into plain language: life is that by which you attain what it was worth being born for at all. Everything else is not life but its semblance.
The next verse will say the same still more sharply.