Upanishads · Parabrahma 1.6
॥
Devanāgarī
यथा श्येनः खमाश्रित्य याति स्वमालयं कुलायम् । एवं सुषुप्तं ब्रूत
Transliteration (IAST)
yathā śyenaḥ khamāśritya yāti svamālayaṃ kulāyam | evaṃ suṣuptaṃ brūta
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यथा श्येनः खम् आश्रित्य यातिyathā śyenaḥ kham āśritya yātias the falcon, having taken the sky as support, flies
स्वम् आलयं कुलायम्svam ālayaṃ kulāyamto its own abode, its nest
एवं सुषुप्तं ब्रूतevaṃ suṣuptaṃ brūtaso speak of deep sleep
Translation
As the falcon, having taken the sky as its support, flies to its own abode, its nest — so speak of deep sleep.
Version
c16c83cb8723 · published Aug 6, 2026, 4:32:42 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The simile of the falcon is taken from the Praśna-upaniṣad (4.2) and the Chāndogya (6.8.2), and it is among the finest in this literature. What is described is this. The falcon flies all day, resting on the air and circling the countryside; and toward night, tired, it flies home, and flies straight, without loops. So too a person: all day his mind wanders among objects, and in deep sleep he returns to his nest.
Let us add that in this simile the nest is one's own place, svam ālayam: not an emptiness where everything vanishes, but a home where one lives. The Chāndogya says this directly: "the mind is tied to the breath, my child; so too a living being, tied to being, enters into its own — svam apīto bhavati" (6.8.1–2). The Vaiṣṇava reading stands on exactly this "own." Deep sleep is explained as a return to the One to whom the soul belongs; and that is why it refreshes — for one rests at home, not just anywhere.
This simile is precious precisely because it removes the fear of losing oneself in sleep. One who returns to the nest does not disappear: he sleeps there and flies out again in the morning. And that we wake up as the same ones who lay down is the best proof that no one dissolved us in the nest.