Upanishads · Mahā 4.110
॥
Devanāgarī
अनास्थैव हि निर्वाणं दुःखमास्थापरिग्रहः
Transliteration (IAST)
anāsthaiva hi nirvāṇaṃ duḥkhamāsthāparigrahaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अनास्था एव हि निर्वाणम्anāsthā eva hi nirvāṇamfor non-reliance itself is extinguishment; precisely unattachedness is nirvāṇa
दुःखम् आस्था-परिग्रहःduḥkham āsthā-parigrahaḥsuffering is the taking-up of reliance; suffering is the appropriation of trust
Translation
“For non-reliance itself is extinguishment, and suffering is the taking-up of reliance.”
Version
d8fa57c1a181 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A half-verse, and in it the whole science in two words.
Anāsthā — “non-reliance” — is named nirvāṇa. Not a special state, not an experience, not an other-worldly abode: simply that you count on nothing.
Āsthā-parigraha — “the taking-up of reliance” — is named suffering. Not the consequence of suffering, but suffering itself.
This is worth testing on oneself, and the test is simple. Every pain, taken apart, proves to be the mismatch of a calculation with what came out. Remove the calculation — and there remains an event without a sting.
Note the word parigraha — “taking, receiving into the house, appropriating”. Reliance does not come of itself; it is taken.
So not taking it, too, is in our power. This is the same as 4.88 said: the thing is wholly in your hands.