Upanishads · Mahā 5.8
॥
Devanāgarī
बीजं जाग्रत्तथा जाग्रन्महाजाग्रत्तथैव च जाग्रत्स्वप्नस्तथा स्वप्नः स्वप्नजाग्रत्सुषुप्तिकम्
Transliteration (IAST)
bījaṃ jāgrattathā jāgranmahājāgrattathaiva ca jāgratsvapnastathā svapnaḥ svapnajāgratsuṣuptikam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
बीजम् जाग्रत् तथा जाग्रत्bījam jāgrat tathā jāgratseed-waking, then waking; the seed-wakefulness, then wakefulness
महा-जाग्रत् तथा एव चmahā-jāgrat tathā eva caand likewise the great waking; and just so the great wakefulness
जाग्रत्-स्वप्नः तथा स्वप्नःjāgrat-svapnaḥ tathā svapnaḥwaking-dream, then dream; the daydream, then the dream
स्वप्न-जाग्रत् सुषुप्तिकम्svapna-jāgrat suṣuptikamdream-waking and deep sleep; waking-within-dream and dreamless sleep
Translation
“Seed-waking, waking, the great waking, the waking-dream, the dream, waking-in-dream and deep sleep.”
Version
94f22cd5a59b · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of the seven steps of ignorance; they will be examined one by one in the following verses.
For now note the construction. All seven are named through two words — jāgrat (“waking”) and svapna (“dream”) — transposed and combined.
This is no idle play. Ignorance is described not as a separate realm, but as different degrees of immersion in the very thing we live by while awake.
Bīja-jāgrat, “seed-waking”, is the first: consciousness not yet knowing itself.
Mahā-jāgrat, “the great waking”, is where we readers are: full conviction in one's “I” and “mine”.
The last, suṣupti, is no serene rest but oblivion, in which the world passes into darkness (5.19).
The ladder, then, leads from shapeless ignorance — to ignorance with a shape — and back into the dark.