Upanishads · Mahā 4.52
॥
Devanāgarī
संकल्पमनसी भिन्ने न कदाचन केनचित् संकल्पजाते गलिते स्वरूपमवशिष्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
saṃkalpamanasī bhinne na kadācana kenacit saṃkalpajāte galite svarūpamavaśiṣyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सङ्कल्प-मनसी भिन्नेsaṅkalpa-manasī bhinnedesign and mind divided; intent and consciousness sundered
न कदाचन केनचित्na kadācana kenacitnever and by no one; not once and by nobody
सङ्कल्प-जाते गलितेsaṅkalpa-jāte galitewhen what was born of design has melted; upon the dissolving of what intent begot
स्वरूपम् अवशिष्यतेsvarūpam avaśiṣyateone's own nature remains; in the remainder abides one's proper essence
Translation
“Design and mind have never been divided by anyone; when what was born of design has melted away, one's own nature remains.”
Version
26d21c0a33f3 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Confirmation of the preceding: design and mind are not two things. No one has ever pulled them apart.
The word bhinne with the negation and the intensifiers kadācana kenacit — “never, by no one” — is said firmly: they cannot be divided even in thought.
The second half is what all this was said for: svarūpam avaśiṣyate, “one's own nature remains”.
Remains. The verb is the same as in 2.65: “something existent remains”.
Again the line that divides Vedānta from the doctrines of the void. The designing has melted — and it is not emptiness that resulted; what was beneath it came to light.
The word svarūpa — “one's own form, one's own nature” — deserves note. Not “faceless”, but precisely one's own. The same word stood in the first verse about Śuka: svarūpa-ānanda, “the bliss of one's own nature” (2.1).
That is, behind the melted mind is not nothing, but you yourself, as you are apart from your designs.