Upanishads · Mahā 3.54
॥
Devanāgarī
अशूरेण हताः शूरा एकेनापि शतं हतम् विषं विषयवैषम्यं न विषं विषमुच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
aśūreṇa hatāḥ śūrā ekenāpi śataṃ hatam viṣaṃ viṣayavaiṣamyaṃ na viṣaṃ viṣamucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अशूरेण हताः शूराःaśūreṇa hatāḥ śūrāḥby a non-hero the heroes are slain; by one no hero the brave are laid low
एकेन अपि शतम् हतम्ekena api śatam hatamby one alone a hundred are slain; by a single one even a hundred are destroyed
विषम् विषय-वैषम्यम्viṣam viṣaya-vaiṣamyampoison is the bane of sense-objects; venom is the malignancy of the sensory
न विषम् विषम् उच्यतेna viṣam viṣam ucyatenot poison is called poison; it is not venom that is named venom
Translation
“By a non-hero the heroes are slain; by one alone a hundred are slain. Poison is the bane of sense-objects; not poison is called poison.”
Version
f604dc95ae87 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A riddle in the first two lines, and the solution in the last.
Who is this “non-hero” who slays the brave and alone lays low a hundred? Not a warrior. It is viṣaya — the sense-object.
It is not strong and does nothing itself; hence it is called aśūra, “no hero”. And yet before it fall those who never fell in battle.
The second half is a definition built on assonance: viṣam viṣaya-vaiṣamyam. The words viṣa (“poison”) and viṣaya (“object of the senses”) are alike in Sanskrit, and the whole verse stands on that likeness.
The sense: the real poison is not the one in the cup. The poison in the cup kills one body once — of which the next verse will speak.
Note the word vaiṣamya — “unevenness, malignancy”. The bane of the sensory is not that it is pleasant, but that it warps: one thing it inflates, another it effaces.