Upanishads · Mahā 5.6
॥
Devanāgarī
संशान्तसर्वसंकल्पा या शिलावदवस्थितिः जाग्रन्निद्राविनिर्मुक्ता सा स्वरूपस्थितिः परा
Transliteration (IAST)
saṃśāntasarvasaṃkalpā yā śilāvadavasthitiḥ jāgrannidrāvinirmuktā sā svarūpasthitiḥ parā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
संशान्त-सर्व-सङ्कल्पाsaṃśānta-sarva-saṅkalpāwith all designs quieted; where every intent has died down
या शिला-वत् अवस्थितिःyā śilā-vat avasthitiḥthat abiding which is like a stone; the said condition, as of a rock
जाग्रत्-निद्रा-विनिर्मुक्ताjāgrat-nidrā-vinirmuktāfree of waking and of sleep; delivered both from waking and from slumber
सा स्वरूप-स्थितिः पराsā svarūpa-sthitiḥ parāthat is the highest abiding in one's own nature; it is the supreme settledness in oneself
Translation
“That stone-like abiding in which all designs have grown quiet, free of both waking and sleep — it is the highest abiding in one's own nature.”
Version
69df17713683 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The comparison with a stone sounded already in 2.6, where the Ātman was called stone-like for want of an object of knowledge.
Here it is applied to a man, and at once balanced by a proviso: jāgrat-nidrā-vinirmuktā — “free of both waking and sleep”.
The proviso is necessary. A stone does not wake; but neither does it sleep. The sleeper looks like a stone from outside, and it is precisely this likeness the book does not intend.
Recall 2.10: comprehension is the absence of notions in one awake.
Here the same is said otherwise: neither sleep nor waking, but a third.
The word parā — “highest” — distinguishes this state from what the previous verse described. There it was the interval, momentary; here, the established.