Upanishads · Mahā 5.132
॥
Devanāgarī
क्वचिद्बन्ध इति ख्यातं क्वचित्पुर्यष्टकं स्मृतम् प्रोक्तं क्वचिदविद्येति क्वचिदिच्छेति संमतम्
Transliteration (IAST)
kvacidbandha iti khyātaṃ kvacitpuryaṣṭakaṃ smṛtam proktaṃ kvacidavidyeti kvacidiccheti saṃmatam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
क्वचित् बन्धः इति ख्यातम्kvacit bandhaḥ iti khyātamsomewhere it is renowned as “bondage”; in one place it is famed as “the fetters”
क्वचित् पुर्यष्टकम् स्मृतम्kvacit puryaṣṭakam smṛtamsomewhere remembered as the “eightfold city”; in one place recorded as the “city of eight”
प्रोक्तम् क्वचित् अविद्या इतिproktam kvacit avidyā itisomewhere it is declared “ignorance”; in one place it is pronounced “unknowing”
क्वचित् इच्छा इति सम्मतम्kvacit icchā iti sammatamsomewhere it is agreed to be “desire”; in one place it is accepted as “wanting”
Translation
“Somewhere it is renowned as ‘bondage’, somewhere remembered as the ‘eightfold city’, somewhere declared ‘ignorance’, somewhere agreed to be ‘desire’.”
Version
b0ce5e3ee41a · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The end of the list, and in it a word that needs explaining: puryaṣṭaka — “the eightfold city”.
So the yogic books call the subtle body, consisting of eight: the five subtle elements, mind, reason and selfhood. It is that “city” in which the jīva migrates from birth to birth.
The other three are familiar: bondage, ignorance, desire.
The last — icchā — is the very thing named in 4.115 the essence of ignorance.
Note that the list ends precisely with it. Of the eighteen names the last is the simplest and homeliest: wanting.
All the learned words — prakṛti, māyā, the eightfold city — converge upon it.
And this is the sum of the whole enumeration: call it what you will, the talk is of our wanting something.