Upanishads · Mahā 5.2
॥
Devanāgarī
पदान्तराण्यसंख्यानि प्रभवन्त्यन्यथैतयोः स्वरूपावस्थितिर्मुक्तिस्तद्भ्रंशोऽहंत्ववेदनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
padāntarāṇyasaṃkhyāni prabhavantyanyathaitayoḥ svarūpāvasthitirmuktistadbhraṃśo'haṃtvavedanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पद-अन्तराणि असङ्ख्यानिpada-antarāṇi asaṅkhyānithe intermediate steps are countless; the transitional stages are beyond number
प्रभवन्ति अन्यथा एतयोःprabhavanti anyathā etayoḥthey arise variously in both; they come about diversely in the two
स्वरूप-अवस्थितिः मुक्तिःsvarūpa-avasthitiḥ muktiḥabiding in one's own nature is freedom; settledness in one's proper essence is deliverance
तत्-भ्रंशः अहंत्व-वेदनम्tat-bhraṃśaḥ ahaṃtva-vedanamfalling from it is the sense of “I”; lapsing from it is the awareness of one's “I”
Translation
“The intermediate steps in both are without number. Abiding in one's own nature is freedom; falling away from it is the sense of ‘I’.”
Version
dedf3406bf99 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The proviso is made at once: seven are the nodes, and between them the steps are numberless.
This is honest. Every division into steps is conventional; a man does not leap at once from one landing to another.
In the second half a definition of freedom is given, and it is short: svarūpa-avasthiti — “abiding in one's own nature”.
Not the attainment of something, not an acquisition, not a passage. Simply to remain oneself.
And the definition of bondage: tad-bhraṃśaḥ ahaṃtva-vedanam — “falling away from it is the sense of ‘I’”.
Here one must be attentive. Ahaṃtva is not the “I” as such, but “I-ness”, that sense of separateness of which 4.71 spoke through the word “mine”.
The result is an exact proportion: freedom is to be oneself; bondage is to take oneself for someone. The second adds nothing to the first except an opinion.