Upanishads · Mahā 5.37
॥
Devanāgarī
जीवन्मुक्ता न मज्जन्ति सुखदुःखरसस्थिते प्रकृतेनाथ कार्येण किंचित्कुर्वन्ति वा न वा
Transliteration (IAST)
jīvanmuktā na majjanti sukhaduḥkharasasthite prakṛtenātha kāryeṇa kiṃcitkurvanti vā na vā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जीवन्मुक्ताः न मज्जन्तिjīvanmuktāḥ na majjantithose liberated in life do not sink; the free-while-alive are not submerged
सुख-दुःख-रस-स्थितेsukha-duḥkha-rasa-sthitein the settled savour of joy and sorrow; in the established composition of happiness and pain
प्रकृतेन अथ कार्येणprakṛtena atha kāryeṇaand with whatever task has come of itself; and with the occupation that has offered itself
किंचित् कुर्वन्ति वा न वाkiṃcit kurvanti vā na vāthey do something, or they do not; they accomplish somewhat, or nothing
Translation
“Those liberated in life do not sink in the settled savour of joy and sorrow; with whatever task has come of itself they do something — or do not.”
Version
48c371d89b1f · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The description begins with a negation: na majjanti — “they do not sink”.
The same verb by which delusion was defined in 5.4: majjana, “the drowning of consciousness in the object”. The liberated man is he who does not drown.
Note the word rasa with “joy and sorrow”: “savour, composition”. Joy and sorrow are named not events but the savour in which one habitually lives.
The second half is fine in its offhandedness: kiṃcit kurvanti vā na vā — “they do something, or they do not”.
This is not irresponsibility. Prakṛtena kāryeṇa — “with the task that has come of itself”, that is, with what arrived unsought (cf. 2.60).
They neither choose their tasks nor decline them by rule. It came — they did it; it did not come — they did not seek it.