Upanishads · Mahā 4.43
॥
Devanāgarī
यदिदं दृश्यते सर्वं जगत्स्थावरजङ्गमम् तत्सुषुप्ताविव स्वप्नः कल्पान्ते प्रविनश्यति
Transliteration (IAST)
yadidaṃ dṛśyate sarvaṃ jagatsthāvarajaṅgamam tatsuṣuptāviva svapnaḥ kalpānte pravinaśyati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत् इदम् दृश्यते सर्वम्yat idam dṛśyate sarvamall this that is seen; everything that is beheld
जगत् स्थावर-जङ्गमम्jagat sthāvara-jaṅgamamthe world unmoving and moving; the world immobile and mobile
तत् सुषुप्तौ इव स्वप्नःtat suṣuptau iva svapnaḥit — like a dream in deep sleep; it is just like a dream-vision in dreamless slumber
कल्प-अन्ते प्रविनश्यतिkalpa-ante pravinaśyatiat the end of the kalpa perishes utterly; at the kalpa's close it wholly disappears
Translation
“All that is seen — the world moving and unmoving — perishes utterly at the end of the kalpa, like a dream in deep sleep.”
Version
108252616207 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The comparison is chosen with a precision worth taking apart.
It says not “the world is like a dream”, but “the world vanishes as a dream vanishes in deep sleep”.
The difference is substantial. The dream is not refuted or exposed: it simply ends when the sleeper goes deeper. And in deep sleep no one thinks the dream was a lie — one does not think of it at all.
So with the world at kalpa-anta, the end of the world-day: it is not exposed as a fraud, it is rolled up.
Note that the comparison meanwhile says nothing about whether the world was real. The dream was a real dream; it ended.
This matters for sober reading: from the fact that something ends, it does not follow that it was not.