Upanishads · Mahā 4.15
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मान्नित्यमकर्ताहमिति भावनयेद्धया परमामृतनाम्नी सा समतैवावशिष्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmānnityamakartāhamiti bhāvanayeddhayā paramāmṛtanāmnī sā samataivāvaśiṣyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात् नित्यम् अकर्ता अहम्tasmāt nityam akartā ahamtherefore “I am ever no doer”; hence “I never act”
इति भावनया इद्धयाiti bhāvanayā iddhayāby this kindled contemplation; through this ignited musing
परम-अमृत-नाम्नी साparama-amṛta-nāmnī sāshe who is named the highest immortality; that one whose name is the supreme nectar
समता एव अवशिष्यतेsamatā eva avaśiṣyateevenness alone remains; there remains nothing but equalness
Translation
“Therefore, from the kindled contemplation ‘I am ever no doer’, there remains evenness alone, which is named the highest immortality.”
Version
0c55b91a077e · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The summing-up of the inquiry into the doer: not reasoning, but bhāvanā — “contemplation, the cultivating of a thought”.
The word iddhā, “kindled, made incandescent”, says this is no listless repetition of a formula, but a thought brought to a glow.
What remains in the end is named: samatā, “evenness, equalness”.
Note a link not immediately visible here. Why does “I am no doer” yield evenness? Because all our unevenness comes from the accounting of merit and blame. Who succeeded, who did not; who is guilty, who is to be repaid. Remove the doer — and there is no one to keep the account against.
And last: evenness is called parama-amṛta, “the highest immortality”. It is not bliss and not vision that is named nectar, but precisely evenness.
The Bhagavad-gītā says the same: he who is equal in success and failure is fit for immortality.