Upanishads · Mahā 4.31
॥
Devanāgarī
श्रुत्वा स्पृष्ट्वा च भुक्त्वा च दृष्ट्वा ज्ञात्वा शुभाशुभम् न हृष्यति ग्लायति यः स शान्त इति कथ्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
śrutvā spṛṣṭvā ca bhuktvā ca dṛṣṭvā jñātvā śubhāśubham na hṛṣyati glāyati yaḥ sa śānta iti kathyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
श्रुत्वा स्पृष्ट्वा च भुक्त्वा चśrutvā spṛṣṭvā ca bhuktvā cahaving heard, touched and tasted; having heard, laid hand on and partaken
दृष्ट्वा ज्ञात्वा शुभ-अशुभम्dṛṣṭvā jñātvā śubha-aśubhamhaving seen and known the good and the bad; having beheld and understood the fair and the foul
न हृष्यति ग्लायति यःna hṛṣyati glāyati yaḥwho neither exults nor droops; who neither is transported nor sinks
सः शान्तः इति कथ्यतेsaḥ śāntaḥ iti kathyatehe is called the stilled one; he is named the pacified
Translation
“Who, having heard, touched, tasted, seen and known the good and the bad, neither exults nor droops — he is called the stilled one.”
Version
c15a344ec307 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A definition of calm through all five senses, named one by one.
Hearing, touch, taste, sight and — fifth — jñātvā, “having known”: the mind as a sixth sense, as was said in 2.3.
The list is needed so that no loophole remains. A man may be unmoved by what he sees and vulnerable to what he hears.
The second line repeats 2.43 to the letter: na hṛṣyati glāyati yaḥ, “who neither exults nor droops”.
The coincidence is telling. There it was a mark of one liberated while living; here, the definition of one simply “stilled”. That is, calm is liberation itself, taken from the side on which it can be seen.
Note the words śubha-aśubham, “the good and the bad”. Evenness is required not only toward the pleasant and unpleasant, but toward the morally good and evil — in the same sense in which this was said in 2.49: without exultation over one's own virtue.