Upanishads · Mahā 5.7
॥
Devanāgarī
अहन्तांशे क्षते शान्ते भेदनिष्पन्दचित्तता अजडा या प्रचलति तत्स्वरूपमितीरितम्
Transliteration (IAST)
ahantāṃśe kṣate śānte bhedaniṣpandacittatā ajaḍā yā pracalati tatsvarūpamitīritam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अहंता-अंशे क्षते शान्तेahaṃtā-aṃśe kṣate śāntewhen the portion of “I-ness” is broken and stilled; when the share of self-sense is fractured and has subsided
भेद-निष्पन्द-चित्तताbheda-niṣpanda-cittatāmindness without the throb of difference; consciousness free of the tremor of division
अजडा या प्रचलतिajaḍā yā pracalatithat unbenumbed one which moves; the living one that streams along
तत् स्वरूपम् इति ईरितम्tat svarūpam iti īritamthat is declared one's own nature; it is proclaimed the proper essence
Translation
“When the portion of ‘I-ness’ is broken and stilled, and the mind is without the throb of difference — the living thing that then moves is declared one's own nature.”
Version
7965ec992a8b · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse adds to the description a trait without which it would be incomplete: pracalati — “it moves, it streams”.
After the comparison with a stone this is essential. One's own nature is not benumbed; it is called ajaḍā — “not inert” — and it is in motion.
Recall 2.48, where the same word stood: ajaḍā saṃvit, “living awareness”.
Bheda-niṣpanda — “without the throb of difference”. Niṣpanda is the negation of spanda, that very “beating” which in 4.99 was named the essence of the mind.
The result is an exact picture: the beating of differentiation has subsided, and the aliveness has remained.
Note the word aṃśa — “portion, part” — with ahaṃtā. Not the whole person is broken, but the portion of “I-ness” in him. The distinction is fine and important: what is removed is not he who is, but that which he fancies himself.