Upanishads · Mahā 4.54
॥
Devanāgarī
महाप्रलयसम्पत्तौ ह्यसत्तां समुपागते अशेषदृश्ये सर्गादौ शान्तमेवावशिष्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
mahāpralayasampattau hyasattāṃ samupāgate aśeṣadṛśye sargādau śāntamevāvaśiṣyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
महा-प्रलय-सम्पत्तौmahā-pralaya-sampattauat the coming of the great dissolution; upon the accomplishment of the universal collapse
हि असत्ताम् समुपागतेhi asattām samupāgatewhen it has come to non-being; when it has turned into absence
अशेष-दृश्ये सर्ग-आदौaśeṣa-dṛśye sarga-ādauall the seen, at creation's start; the whole visible, at the onset of creation
शान्तम् एव अवशिष्यतेśāntam eva avaśiṣyateonly the stilled remains; in the remainder abides the pacified alone
Translation
“When at the great dissolution all the seen has come to non-being — and at the beginning of a new creation — only the stilled remains.”
Version
f4774218edf6 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse sets side by side the world's two limits: the end and the beginning.
Mahā-pralaya is the great dissolution, when everything is rolled up, including those who created.
Sarga-ādi is “the beginning of creation”, the first instant of a new round.
In both, one thing remains: śānta, “the stilled”.
The word chosen is the same by which the man of calm is described (4.28–4.33). The coincidence is intended: what remains when the world is rolled up, and what opens in a stilled mind, are of one nature.
This is the answer to the first question of Śuka and of Nidāgha: whence all this clamour arose and how it grows still. It rises out of the stilled and settles back into it.
Note too that the verb is again avaśiṣyate — “remains”. For the third time running the book sets a subject where other doctrines set a zero.