Upanishads · Mahā 4.126
॥
Devanāgarī
नाहं मांसं न चास्थीनि देहादन्यः परोऽस्म्यहम् इति निश्चितवानन्तः क्षीणाविद्यो विमुच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
nāhaṃ māṃsaṃ na cāsthīni dehādanyaḥ paro'smyaham iti niścitavānantaḥ kṣīṇāvidyo vimucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न अहम् मांसम्na aham māṃsamI am not flesh; I am not the meat
न च अस्थीनिna ca asthīninor the bones; nor yet the skeleton
देहात् अन्यः परः अस्मि अहम्dehāt anyaḥ paraḥ asmi ahamI am other than the body and above it; I am distinct from the body and higher than it
इति निश्चितवान् अन्तःiti niścitavān antaḥwho has so resolved within; one who is thus inwardly settled
क्षीण-अविद्यः विमुच्यतेkṣīṇa-avidyaḥ vimucyatewith ignorance spent, is freed; with unknowing exhausted, gains freedom
Translation
“‘I am not flesh and not bones; I am other than the body and above it’ — he who has so resolved within, his ignorance is spent, and he is freed.”
Version
03004293eaf9 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third example, and the most direct.
Note that what is listed is exactly that by which the third chapter dissected the body: flesh and bones (3.31, 3.39).
There the dissection was a device of revulsion; here the same dissection serves discernment. One and the same observation — “this is flesh and bones” — can be used both for squeamishness and for freedom.
The definition of oneself is given in two words: anyaḥ and paraḥ — “other” and “higher”.
The first separates: I am not that. The second states the order: I am not merely other, I am above.
The word niścitavān — “firmly resolved” — is of the same root as the niścaya of 2.2. The speech is of settledness, not of a guess.
And antaḥ is added — “within”. Not in words.