Upanishads · Mahā 3.27
॥
Devanāgarī
नास्ति देहसमः शोच्यो नीचो गुणविवर्जितः
Transliteration (IAST)
nāsti dehasamaḥ śocyo nīco guṇavivarjitaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न अस्ति देह-समः शोच्यःna asti deha-samaḥ śocyaḥthere is nothing so pitiable as the body; nothing exists as worthy of lament as the body
नीचः गुण-विवर्जितःnīcaḥ guṇa-vivarjitaḥlow, devoid of virtues; base, destitute of excellences
Translation
“There is nothing more pitiable than the body — low and devoid of virtues.”
Version
bd299aa3fa7f · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
With this half-verse begins a long series of verses on the body, and it is worth stating at once how to read them.
Before us is not a doctrine that the body is evil. Before us is an exercise: a youth who has resolved not to build his life around the bodily takes apart aloud what it consists of and how it ends.
The word śocya — “worthy of pity, of lament” — is the key here. The body is not called an enemy; it is called pitiable.
The difference is substantial. Toward an enemy one nurses hatred; toward the pitiable — compassion and sobriety.
The Vaiṣṇava tradition adds to this what is not and cannot be in Nidāgha's speech: a body given over to service ceases to be pitiable, because it ceases to be one's own. But that turn is still far off for the book — and further still for Nidāgha.