Upanishads · Mahā 4.41
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वात्मवेदनं शुद्धं यदोदेति तवात्मकम् भाति प्रसृतिदिक्कालबाह्यं चिद्रूपदेहकम्
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvātmavedanaṃ śuddhaṃ yadodeti tavātmakam bhāti prasṛtidikkālabāhyaṃ cidrūpadehakam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्व-आत्म-वेदनम् शुद्धम्sarva-ātma-vedanam śuddhamthe pure knowing of the all-Ātman; the unclouded realisation of the universal Self
यदा उदेति तव आत्मकम्yadā udeti tava ātmakamwhen it arises, thine own; when it comes forth, proper to thee
भाति प्रसृति-दिक्-कालbhāti prasṛti-dik-kālait shines beyond extension, quarters and time; it gleams outside spread, directions and time
बाह्यम् चित्-रूप-देहकम्bāhyam cit-rūpa-dehakama body whose form is consciousness; as a body whose shape is awareness
Translation
“When the pure knowing of the all-pervading Ātman arises in thee, it shines beyond extension, the quarters and time — a body whose form is consciousness.”
Version
0f15a7fa9a8e · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse describes what happens at awakening, and does so through the negation of three frames.
Prasṛti — “extension, spread”, that is, space as volume. Dik — the quarters, space as direction. Kāla — time.
All that we know is placed within these three; the knowledge in question is outside them.
But the chief thing here is another word, and it is unusual: cid-rūpa-dehaka — “a body whose form is consciousness”.
It says dehaka, “body”. Not “formless”, not “empty” — a body.
This is a rare and important turn. Awakening is described not as the vanishing of all shape, but as the appearance of a shape of another kind — woven not of matter but of consciousness.
On such passages Vaiṣṇava Vedānta takes its stand: beyond matter is not emptiness, but its own substance, its own form, its own body. What is denied is material flesh, not form as such.