Upanishads · Mahā 4.99
॥
Devanāgarī
एषा हि चञ्चलास्पन्दशक्तिश्चित्तत्वसंस्थिता तां विद्धि मानसीं शक्तिं जगदाडंबरात्मिकाम्
Transliteration (IAST)
eṣā hi cañcalāspandaśaktiścittatvasaṃsthitā tāṃ viddhi mānasīṃ śaktiṃ jagadāḍaṃbarātmikām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एषा हि चञ्चला स्पन्द-शक्तिःeṣā hi cañcalā spanda-śaktiḥfor this restless power of vibration; precisely this wavering force of pulsation
चित्त-त्व-संस्थिताcitta-tva-saṃsthitāestablished as mind; settled in the capacity of consciousness
ताम् विद्धि मानसीम् शक्तिम्tām viddhi mānasīm śaktimknow her as the power of thought; understand her as the mental might
जगत्-आडम्बर-आत्मिकाम्jagat-āḍambara-ātmikāmthe essence of the world's clamour; having the nature of the worldly din
Translation
“This restless power of vibration, established as the mind — know her as the power of thought, which is the whole clamour of the world.”
Version
b51fdfd9a879 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
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Here is named what the mind is in essence: spanda-śakti — “the power of vibration, of beating, of pulsation”.
Spanda is an important word: oscillation, tremor, the first movement. That which is as yet neither object nor act, but only the beginning of motion.
She is not created and not brought in; she is His power (4.86), established as the mind.
And she is also jagad-āḍambara — “the clamour of the world”.
The word āḍambara returns us to the very first question of the second chapter: “whence has all this clamour of the round arisen?” (2.15, 2.30).
Here is the answer, given two and a half chapters later. The clamour rose out of the vibration, and the vibration settled as the mind.
Note that the answer condemns nothing. The power of vibration is no evil; it is a power. The question was “whence” — and the “whence” has been named.