Upanishads · Mahā 3.31
॥
Devanāgarī
रक्तमांसमयस्यास्य सबाह्याभ्यन्तरे मुने नाशैकधर्मिणो ब्रूहि कैव कायस्य रम्यता
Transliteration (IAST)
raktamāṃsamayasyāsya sabāhyābhyantare mune nāśaikadharmiṇo brūhi kaiva kāyasya ramyatā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
रक्त-मांस-मयस्य अस्यrakta-māṃsa-mayasya asyaof this, made of blood and flesh; of this one, woven of blood and meat
स-बाह्य-अभ्यन्तरे मुनेsa-bāhya-abhyantare muneboth outside and inside, O sage; without as well as within, O silent one
नाश-एक-धर्मिणः ब्रूहिnāśa-eka-dharmiṇaḥ brūhiwhose one property is perishing — say; whose single law is destruction — declare
का एव कायस्य रम्यताkā eva kāyasya ramyatāwhat indeed is the body's loveliness; what charm is there in the body at all
Translation
“Of this thing woven of blood and flesh without and within, whose one property is perishing — say, O sage, wherein lies its loveliness?”
Version
37e4200cccf4 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The argument is reduced to two points, and both are verifiable.
First: outside is the same as inside. Sa-bāhya-abhyantare — “both without and within” blood and flesh. Our attachment to bodily beauty rests on our seeing only the surface; look a finger's depth deeper — and the picture is different.
Second: nāśa-eka-dharmin — “having perishing as its single property”. A thing's property is what is always with it. With the body one thing is always present: it is decaying. All else — strength, beauty, health — comes and goes.
Hence the question: where here is ramyatā, “loveliness”?
The question is rhetorical, yet an answer to it does exist, and Vaiṣṇava thought gives it. There is no charm in the substance; it is in the one who dwells in the body — which is why a living body is dear and a dead one is not. We love not flesh but presence.