Upanishads · Mahā 5.130
॥
Devanāgarī
क्वचिन्मनः क्वचिद्बुद्धिः क्वचिज्ज्ञानं क्वचित्क्रिया क्वचिदेतदहंकारः क्वचिच्चित्तमिति स्मृतम्
Transliteration (IAST)
kvacinmanaḥ kvacidbuddhiḥ kvacijjñānaṃ kvacitkriyā kvacidetadahaṃkāraḥ kvaciccittamiti smṛtam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
क्वचित् मनः क्वचित् बुद्धिःkvacit manaḥ kvacit buddhiḥsomewhere mind, somewhere reason; in one place consciousness, in another understanding
क्वचित् ज्ञानम् क्वचित् क्रियाkvacit jñānam kvacit kriyāsomewhere knowledge, somewhere action; in one place cognition, in another deed
क्वचित् एतत् अहङ्कारःkvacit etat ahaṅkāraḥsomewhere this is selfhood; in one place this same is self-sense
क्वचित् चित्तम् इति स्मृतम्kvacit cittam iti smṛtamsomewhere it is recorded as “citta”; in one place it is remembered as “citta”
Translation
“Somewhere it is mind, somewhere reason, somewhere knowledge, somewhere action, somewhere selfhood, somewhere it is recorded as ‘citta’.”
Version
d87aeb617d5b · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A list begins of the names by which different doctrines call one and the same thing; it will take three verses.
Six here, six in the next, six in the third — eighteen names.
Note the device: kvacit — “somewhere, here and there”. That is, in such a school, in such a book.
The book lists them without dispute and without preference.
This is in its spirit. It has already said that names are contrived for usage (4.44) and that quarrelling over them is no business of the seeker (4.74).
The whole list serves one end: to show that behind the different terms of different schools stands one thing, and that their feuds are therefore vain.
This is a rare breadth, and worth marking.