Upanishads · Mahā 5.89
॥
Devanāgarī
अहं सर्वमिदं विश्वं परमात्माहमच्युतः नान्यदस्तीति संवित्त्या परमा सा ह्यहङ्कृतिः
Transliteration (IAST)
ahaṃ sarvamidaṃ viśvaṃ paramātmāhamacyutaḥ nānyadastīti saṃvittyā paramā sā hyahaṅkṛtiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अहम् सर्वम् इदम् विश्वम्aham sarvam idam viśvamI am all this universe; I am the whole of this cosmos
परमात्मा अहम् अच्युतःparamātmā aham acyutaḥI am the Supreme Ātman, the unfallen; I am the highest Self, the unshaken
न अन्यत् अस्ति इति संवित्त्याna anyat asti iti saṃvittyāthere is nothing else — by such awareness; nothing other exists — through such consciousness
परमा सा हि अहङ्कृतिःparamā sā hi ahaṅkṛtiḥthat indeed is the highest selfhood; it is precisely the supreme self-sense
Translation
“‘I am all this universe, I am the Supreme Ātman, the unfallen; there is nothing else’ — with such awareness, this is the highest selfhood.”
Version
35619388abec · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The examination of the three kinds of selfhood begins, and it runs to 5.96. This passage is among the most useful in the book.
Till now ahaṅkāra was an enemy without reservation (3.16, 4.71). Here it turns out to be threefold, and two of the three are good.
The first, the highest: “I am all, I am the Supreme Ātman”.
Note the word acyuta — “unfallen, unshaken”. It is one of the Supreme's names, and it stands here not by chance: the speech is of a selfhood that has recognized itself in Him.
Vaiṣṇava Vedānta, as was said already (2.11, 4.24), reads such an “I” as the denial of identification with the body, not as an appropriation of supreme dominion. The text itself will give the ground for this in 5.95–5.96, where both higher selfhoods are named as to be relinquished at the very top.
For now what matters is this: the book does not demand the destruction of the sense of “I”. It demands the change of its content.