Upanishads · Mahā 4.105
॥
Devanāgarī
तृष्णाग्राहगृहीतानां संसारार्णवपातिनाम् आवर्तैरूह्यमानानां दूरं स्वमन एव नौः
Transliteration (IAST)
tṛṣṇāgrāhagṛhītānāṃ saṃsārārṇavapātinām āvartairūhyamānānāṃ dūraṃ svamana eva nauḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तृष्णा-ग्राह-गृहीतानाम्tṛṣṇā-grāha-gṛhītānāmfor those seized by the monster of craving; for those gripped by the crocodile of thirst
संसार-अर्णव-पातिनाम्saṃsāra-arṇava-pātināmfalling into the ocean of the round; plunging into the sea of the whirl
आवर्तैः ऊह्यमानानाम्āvartaiḥ ūhyamānānāmcarried off by the whirlpools; borne away by the eddies
दूरम् स्व-मनः एव नौःdūram sva-manaḥ eva nauḥfar away — one's own mind alone is the boat; afar — solely one's own consciousness is the ship
Translation
“For those whom the monster of craving has seized, who fall into the ocean of the round and are carried far by its whirlpools — there is but one boat: one's own mind.”
Version
eaf53a978530 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A continuation of the preceding through the image of shipwreck.
Grāha is the water-monster, the crocodile. The same image is in the Bhāgavatam, where the elephant seized by the crocodile calls out to the Supreme.
Here the rescue is named otherwise: sva-mana eva nauḥ — “one's own mind is the boat”.
One and the same instrument is both monster and boat. Craving drags to the bottom; the mind turned to itself carries out.
Note the word āvarta — “whirlpool”. It is of the same root as “revolving”, and constant in this book: the round is precisely a turning in place.
The Vaiṣṇava tradition reads such passages without dispute and with one addition: there is a boat, but someone must steer it. This very chapter has twice said that without the teacher's mercy nothing is granted (4.76) and that the insight was given from above (4.1). The boat is one's own; the wind is not.