Upanishads · Mahā 5.19
॥
Devanāgarī
भविष्यद्दुःखबोधाढ्या सौषुप्तिः सोच्यते गतिः जगत्तस्यामवस्थायामन्तस्तमसि लीयते
Transliteration (IAST)
bhaviṣyadduḥkhabodhāḍhyā sauṣuptiḥ socyate gatiḥ jagattasyāmavasthāyāmantastamasi līyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
भविष्यत्-दुःख-बोध-आढ्याbhaviṣyat-duḥkha-bodha-āḍhyārich in the knowledge of future suffering; abounding in the presage of coming pain
सौषुप्तिः सा उच्यते गतिःsauṣuptiḥ sā ucyate gatiḥthat course is called deep sleep; the said one is named the way of dreamless sleep
जगत् तस्याम् अवस्थायाम्jagat tasyām avasthāyāmthe world, in that state; the world, in the said condition
अन्तः तमसि लीयतेantaḥ tamasi līyatedissolves into inner darkness; melts away into the inward gloom
Translation
“That course is called deep sleep, rich in the knowledge of future suffering; in that state the world dissolves into inner darkness.”
Version
be3ea3f30c22 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The seventh and last step of ignorance.
Its definition is worth taking whole: bhaviṣyad-duḥkha-bodha-āḍhyā — “abounding in the knowledge of future suffering”.
That is, deep sleep is no peace. It is an oblivion in which nothing is experienced — and in which everything that will be experienced later lies intact.
This is an essential correction to the temptation that keeps surfacing in these books: since in deep sleep there is neither “I” nor world, is it not liberation?
No. The difference is in the seed. The liberated man does not sleep — he knows; the sleeper does not know and therefore will wake the same.
Note too the last line: jagat antas tamasi līyate — “the world dissolves into inner darkness”. The world has gone nowhere; it has curled up inside the sleeper and waits.
Here is the solution of the whole lower ladder: it ends not in death, but in that from which all will begin again.