Upanishads · Mahā 4.127
॥
Devanāgarī
कल्पितेयमविद्येयमनात्मन्यात्मभावनात् परं पौरुषमाश्रित्य यत्नात्परमया धिया भोगेच्छां दूरतस्त्यक्त्वा निर्विकल्पः सुखी भव
Transliteration (IAST)
kalpiteyamavidyeyamanātmanyātmabhāvanāt paraṃ pauruṣamāśritya yatnātparamayā dhiyā bhogecchāṃ dūratastyaktvā nirvikalpaḥ sukhī bhava
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कल्पिता इयम् अविद्या इयम्kalpitā iyam avidyā iyamcontrived is this ignorance; a fabrication is this unknowing
अनात्मनि आत्म-भावनात्anātmani ātma-bhāvanātfrom thinking oneself in the non-self; from deeming oneself what one is not
परम् पौरुषम् आश्रित्यparam pauruṣam āśrityaresorting to the highest valour; leaning upon supreme manliness
यत्नात् परमया धियाyatnāt paramayā dhiyāwith effort, with the highest reason; by exertion and by supreme understanding
भोग-इच्छाम् दूरतः त्यक्त्वाbhoga-icchām dūrataḥ tyaktvāhaving cast the desire for enjoyments far away; having flung the craving for delights far off
निर्विकल्पः सुखी भवnirvikalpaḥ sukhī bhavabecome free of distinctions and happy; be made a stranger to differentiations and blissful
Translation
“This ignorance is contrived — from thinking oneself in what is not oneself. Resorting to the highest valour, with effort and the highest reason, casting the desire for enjoyments far away, become free of distinctions and happy.”
Version
94d01b12f7af · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The definition of ignorance in one line: anātmani ātma-bhāvanā — “the thinking of oneself in what is not oneself”.
This is the shortest and most exact of all the book has given. Not “not knowing the truth”, but the transferring of oneself to where one is not.
From this comes all the rest: if I am the body, then I need what the body needs; hence craving, hence fear, hence the round.
In the second half the order of 4.108 is repeated word for word: nirvikalpaḥ sukhī bhava.
Note that between the two identical endings the book has managed to take the mind apart to its foundation. The command repeated after the analysis sounds otherwise than before it.
And once more is named bhoga-icchā — “the desire for enjoyments”. The same word by which in 3.48 Nidāgha named the root of family life. The teacher accepts his word and sets it in its right place: the matter lies not in the wife or the house, but in this.