Upanishads · Mahā 6.18
॥
Devanāgarī
द्रष्टृदर्शनदृश्यानि त्यक्त्वा वासनया सह दर्शनप्रत्ययाभासमात्मानं समुपास्महे
Transliteration (IAST)
draṣṭṛdarśanadṛśyāni tyaktvā vāsanayā saha darśanapratyayābhāsamātmānaṃ samupāsmahe
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
द्रष्टृ-दर्शन-दृश्यानिdraṣṭṛ-darśana-dṛśyānithe seer, the seeing and the seen; the looker, the looking and the looked-upon
त्यक्त्वा वासनया सहtyaktvā vāsanayā sahahaving left, together with the vāsanā; having renounced, along with the inclination
दर्शन-प्रत्यय-आभासम्darśana-pratyaya-ābhāsamthe gleam of the notion of seeing; the shimmer of the conception of sight
आत्मानम् समुपास्महेātmānam samupāsmahethe Ātman we worship; the Self we adore
Translation
“Having left the seer, the seeing and the seen together with the vāsanā, we worship the Ātman — the gleam of the notion of seeing.”
Version
fd106d2e46cb · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second verse of the series, and it leaves the whole triad: seer, seeing and seen.
Recall 2.69, where of the three the middle one was pointed to, and 5.48, where the sought is said to lack even the middle.
Here — the same, but with an addition: tyaktvā vāsanayā saha, “together with the vāsanā”.
The triad is not left by itself: with it goes also the inclination to keep building it.
Note the word ābhāsa — “gleam”. It occurred already in 4.120, where everything here is named “the gleam of the single”.
What is worshipped is not the gleam but He whose it is.
And note further: worship is not cancelled by the leaving. Everything has been left — and they worship. This is the first place where the book shows that beyond all distinctions a relation remains.