Upanishads · Mahā 4.53
॥
Devanāgarī
अहं त्वं जगतित्यादौ प्रशान्ते दृश्यसंभ्रमे स्यात्तादृशी केवलता दृश्ये सत्तामुपागते
Transliteration (IAST)
ahaṃ tvaṃ jagatityādau praśānte dṛśyasaṃbhrame syāttādṛśī kevalatā dṛśye sattāmupāgate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अहम् त्वम् जगत् इति आदौaham tvam jagat iti ādau“I”, “thou”, “world” and the rest — at first; “I”, “thou”, “world” and the like — to begin with
प्रशान्ते दृश्य-सम्भ्रमेpraśānte dṛśya-sambhramewhen the turmoil of the seen has subsided; upon the quieting of the visible's commotion
स्यात् तादृशी केवलताsyāt tādṛśī kevalatāthere comes such singleness; there sets in a like aloneness
दृश्ये सत्ताम् उपागतेdṛśye sattām upāgatewhen the seen has come to being; with the visible having gained reality
Translation
“When the turmoil of the seen — ‘I’, ‘thou’, ‘world’ and the rest — has subsided, that very singleness sets in, and the seen comes to its true being.”
Version
41e83f0b7999 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An unexpected verse, and worth pausing on, for it corrects everything that could have been taken too crudely.
What subsides is listed: not the world, but sambhrama — the “turmoil, commotion” of the seen. Not the object subsides, but the bustle around it.
And then it is said: dṛśye sattām upāgate — “the seen has come to being”.
Come to being — not vanished.
That is, the fruit of awakening is not the world's annihilation, but the world's becoming genuine. While the turmoil kept carving it, it was a phantasm; when the turmoil settled, it proved to be what it is.
This is exactly the image of 4.26: the confusion about the quarters passed, the quarters remained.
Vaiṣṇava Vedānta reads such passages literally and sees no need to soften them: the world is no illusion; illusory is our seeing of the world. Liberation returns to things their genuineness together with their Owner.