Upanishads · Mahā 4.6
॥
Devanāgarī
संकल्पाशानुसन्धानवर्जनं चेत्प्रतिक्षणम् करोषि तदचित्तत्वं प्राप्त एवासि पावनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
saṃkalpāśānusandhānavarjanaṃ cetpratikṣaṇam karoṣi tadacittatvaṃ prāpta evāsi pāvanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सङ्कल्प-आशा-अनुसन्धानsaṅkalpa-āśā-anusandhānaof design, hope, pursuing; of intent, expectation, seeking-out
वर्जनम् चेत् प्रति-क्षणम्varjanam cet prati-kṣaṇamif the abandonment at every moment; if the relinquishing each instant
करोषि तत् अचित्तत्वम्karoṣi tat acittatvamthou performest, then the state without mind; thou dost accomplish, then mindlessness
प्राप्तः एव असि पावनम्prāptaḥ eva asi pāvanamthou hast attained already — the purifying one; thou hast reached already, the hallowing state
Translation
“If at every moment thou abandonest design, hope and pursuit — then thou hast already attained the purifying state without mind.”
Version
284efa17e381 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The exercise is named, and named with precision as to its term: prati-kṣaṇam — “every moment”.
Three things are to be left. Saṅkalpa — “design, positing”: the very thing by which, in Janaka's words, a man binds himself (2.70). Āśā — “hope, expectation”. Anusandhāna — “pursuit, tracking”, the work of the mind that schemes how to obtain.
All three face the future. The mind is bound not by the past but by what it ceaselessly builds up ahead.
The word acittatva — “mindlessness” in the literal sense, the state without citta — sounds frightening, and therefore pāvana, “purifying”, is set beside it at once. It is not dullness, but the ceasing of the eternal calculation.
Note too the verb's tense: prāpta eva asi — “thou hast already attained”. Not “thou shalt attain”. If thou art doing it — then already.