Upanishads · Mahā 5.5
॥
Devanāgarī
अर्थादर्थान्तरं चित्ते याति मध्ये तु या स्थितिः सा ध्वस्तमननाकारा स्वरूपस्थितिरुच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
arthādarthāntaraṃ citte yāti madhye tu yā sthitiḥ sā dhvastamananākārā svarūpasthitirucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अर्थात् अर्थ-अन्तरम् चित्तेarthāt artha-antaram cittefrom object to another object in the mind; from one thing to a different thing in consciousness
याति मध्ये तु या स्थितिःyāti madhye tu yā sthitiḥit passes — but the state that stands between; it moves; and the standing that is in the middle
सा ध्वस्त-मनन-आकाराsā dhvasta-manana-ākārāthat one, with the shape of thinking demolished; it, stripped of the contours of musing
स्वरूप-स्थितिः उच्यतेsvarūpa-sthitiḥ ucyateis called abiding in one's own nature; is named settledness in the proper essence
Translation
“When the mind passes from one object to another, the state that stands in the middle, with the shape of thinking demolished, is called abiding in one's own nature.”
Version
79cc1960feb4 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A pointing, not a reasoning, and it repeats the device of 4.58: look into the interval.
The mind goes from object to object. At the point of passage there is a madhya — a “middle”, where the previous is no more and the next is not yet.
This middle is called dhvasta-manana-ākārā — “with the shape of thinking demolished”. There is no thought there, for thought is always about something.
And this is svarūpa-sthiti, “abiding in one's own nature”.
Note how this joins the whole chapter. Freedom is defined as abiding in one's own nature (5.2); one's own nature is recognized in the interval (5.5); therefore freedom is no far country, but what happens anyway to everyone many times an hour — only unnoticed.
The whole path, then, is not to procure this state, but to linger in it.