Upanishads · Mahā 4.130
॥
Devanāgarī
कस्तवायं जडो मूको देहो मांसमयोऽशुचिः यदर्थं सुखदुःखाभ्यामवशः परिभूयसे
Transliteration (IAST)
kastavāyaṃ jaḍo mūko deho māṃsamayo'śuciḥ yadarthaṃ sukhaduḥkhābhyāmavaśaḥ paribhūyase
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कः तव अयम् जडः मूकःkaḥ tava ayam jaḍaḥ mūkaḥwhat to thee is this inert, dumb; what is to thee this torpid, speechless
देहः मांस-मयः अशुचिःdehaḥ māṃsa-mayaḥ aśuciḥbody, made of flesh, unclean; frame, consisting of meat, impure
यत्-अर्थम् सुख-दुःखाभ्याम्yat-artham sukha-duḥkhābhyāmfor whose sake by pleasure and pain; on account of which by happiness and suffering
अवशः परिभूयसेavaśaḥ paribhūyasethou, helpless, art pushed about; thou, powerless, art humiliated
Translation
“What is to thee this inert, dumb, fleshly, unclean body, for whose sake thou, helpless, art pushed about by pleasure and pain?”
Version
e88affd8a95a · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An argument from absurdity, and it is put as a question.
The body is described in four words: jaḍa — “inert, insentient”, mūka — “dumb”, māṃsa-maya — “fleshly”, aśuci — “unclean”.
It does not speak, does not feel of itself and has no understanding of its own. And for its sake a man endures the rocking between happiness and sorrow.
The word avaśa — “helpless, not in possession of oneself”, the very one by which in 3.34 the man possessed by lust was described.
Paribhūyase — “thou art pushed about, humiliated”. Not “thou sufferest”, but precisely humiliated: pleasure and pain treat the man like a servant.
Note that the argument here is not about the body's uncleanness — that was already in the third chapter. The argument is in the disproportion: the master serves the dumb.