Upanishads · Mahā 5.24
॥
Devanāgarī
ज्ञानभूमिः शुभेच्छाख्या प्रथमा समुदाहृता विचारणा द्वितीया तु तृतीया तनुमानसी
Transliteration (IAST)
jñānabhūmiḥ śubhecchākhyā prathamā samudāhṛtā vicāraṇā dvitīyā tu tṛtīyā tanumānasī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ज्ञान-भूमिः शुभ-इच्छा-आख्याjñāna-bhūmiḥ śubha-icchā-ākhyāthe stage of knowledge named “good desire”; the land of knowing called “fair wishing”
प्रथमा समुदाहृताprathamā samudāhṛtāis declared the first; is proclaimed the foremost
विचारणा द्वितीया तुvicāraṇā dvitīyā tuand the second is inquiry; the second, though, is investigation
तृतीया तनु-मानसीtṛtīyā tanu-mānasīthe third — the thinning of the mind; the third is the refinement of consciousness
Translation
“The first stage of knowledge is named ‘good desire’; the second is inquiry, the third the thinning of the mind.”
Version
3a10281e9acf · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of the seven stages of knowledge begins. It and the three following verses deserve remembering: this is the book's most famous part.
The first — śubhecchā, “good desire”. Not knowledge, not renunciation, not a feat: a desire.
This deserves special note. The ladder begins not with what a man has learnt, but with what he has come to want.
Recall 4.113: ignorance perishes when “the longing to behold the Ātman oneself” is born. Here the same thought is laid as the foundation of the whole path.
The second — vicāraṇā, “inquiry”. The gatekeeper of 4.2, here counted second.
The third — tanu-mānasī, “the thinning of the mind”. The word tanu means “thin, lean”. The mind is not killed; it grows lean; cf. 2.41, where liberation is defined as “the thinning of the vāsanās”.
The order: he wanted — he examined — he grew lean.