Upanishads · Mahā 4.94
॥
Devanāgarī
अयं सोऽहमिदं तन्म एतावन्मात्रकं मनः तदभावनमात्रेण दात्रेणेव विलीयते
Transliteration (IAST)
ayaṃ so'hamidaṃ tanma etāvanmātrakaṃ manaḥ tadabhāvanamātreṇa dātreṇeva vilīyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अयम् सः अहम्ayam saḥ aham“here he is”, “I”; “there is that one”, “I”
इदम् तत् मेidam tat me“this is mine”; “here it is, mine”
एतावत्-मात्रकम् मनःetāvat-mātrakam manaḥonly this much is the mind; just so much is consciousness
तत् अभावन-मात्रेणtat abhāvana-mātreṇaby the mere non-contemplating of that; solely by the non-nurturing of this
दात्रेण इव विलीयतेdātreṇa iva vilīyateit dissolves, as if cut by a sickle; it vanishes, as though beneath the sickle
Translation
“‘Here he is’, ‘I’, ‘this is mine’ — in this alone the mind consists; by the mere non-contemplating of that it dissolves, as if cut down by a sickle.”
Version
2ce2a1edb3a5 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The mind is taken apart into its components, and the components prove to be three.
Ayaṃ saḥ — “here he is, that one”: the recognition of the object.
Aham — “I”: the one who recognizes.
Idaṃ tat me — “this is mine”: the link between them.
Etāvan-mātrakaṃ manaḥ — “only so much is the mind”. There is nothing more in it.
This is what makes the remedy possible. Against three habits something can be undertaken; against who-knows-what, nothing.
The remedy is named: abhāvana-mātra — “mere non-nurturing”. Not a struggle, but the cessation of feeding.
The image of the sickle — dātra — is good in speaking of ease. Grass is not uprooted; it is cut with one stroke, because it holds weakly.
Recall that in 4.11 the vāsanās were called straw, and knowledge fire. Here the same measure: what seems indestructible is in fact grass.