Upanishads · Mahā 5.96
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ ते अपि संत्यज्य सर्वाहंकृतिवर्जितः स तिष्ठति तथात्युच्चैः परमेवाधिरोहति
Transliteration (IAST)
atha te api saṃtyajya sarvāhaṃkṛtivarjitaḥ sa tiṣṭhati tathātyuccaiḥ paramevādhirohati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ ते अपि संत्यज्यatha te api saṃtyajyathen, having relinquished those too; afterwards, having abandoned even those
सर्व-अहङ्कृति-वर्जितःsarva-ahaṅkṛti-varjitaḥdevoid of every selfhood; free of all self-sense whatever
सः तिष्ठति तथा अति-उच्चैःsaḥ tiṣṭhati tathā ati-uccaiḥhe abides thus, exceedingly high; he stands in this way, very high
परम् एव अधिरोहतिparam eva adhirohatiand ascends to the highest itself; and mounts to the supreme itself
Translation
“Then, relinquishing those too, devoid of every selfhood, he abides exceedingly high — and ascends to the highest itself.”
Version
2f5cae0f49b2 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The conclusion of the examination: at the end even the two good selfhoods are left behind.
This matters for the right reading of 5.89. The formula “I am all, I am the Supreme Ātman” is not declared the final truth; it is declared a step, and the last step but one.
The final state is sarva-ahaṅkṛti-varjita, “devoid of every selfhood”.
Note the order of work that has emerged from the four verses.
First the worldly selfhood is replaced by one of the two good ones: not “I am the body”, but “I am all” or “I am subtler than a hair”.
Then that too is left.
One cannot pass straight from “I am the body” to “no I at all” — the book offers no such route. A transfer to another foundation is needed, and only then the letting go.
Adhirohati — “he ascends”. The last movement is named an ascent, not a dissolution.