Upanishads · Avadhūta 5
॥
Devanāgarī
एवं चतुष्पथं कृत्वा ते यान्ति परमां गतिम् । न कर्मणा न प्रजया धनेन त्यागेनैके अमृतत्वमानशुः
Transliteration (IAST)
evaṃ catuṣpathaṃ kṛtvā te yānti paramāṃ gatim | na karmaṇā na prajayā dhanena tyāgenaike amṛtatvamānaśuḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एवं चतुष्-पथं कृत्वाevaṃ catuṣ-pathaṃ kṛtvāhaving thus made the fourfold path
ते यान्ति परमां गतिम्te yānti paramāṃ gatimthey go by the highest path
न कर्मणा न प्रजया धनेनna karmaṇā na prajayā dhanenanot by deed, not by offspring, [not] by wealth
त्यागेन एके अ-मृत-त्वम् आनशुःtyāgena eke a-mṛta-tvam ānaśuḥby renunciation some attained immortality
Translation
Having thus [arranged] the fourfold path, they go by the highest path. Not by deed, not by offspring, not by wealth — by renunciation some attained immortality.
Version
25a1710e04f0 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The second half is the famous verse of the Mahā-nārāyaṇa-upaniṣad (10.5), repeated also in the Kaivalya (1.3): na karmaṇā na prajayā dhanena tyāgenaike amṛtatvam ānaśuḥ. This verse deserves examination, for it rejects three paths and affirms one. Rejected are: karman, "deed" — that is, ritual; prajā, "offspring" — that is, continuing oneself in children; dhana, "wealth" — that is, gifts and sacrifices bought with means. All these are three ways by which people in ancient times sought lasting existence.
What is affirmed is one thing: tyāga, "renunciation." Look at the word eke, "some, a few." Not "every renunciate," but some; that is, here too it is not promised to everyone alike.
The Vaiṣṇava reading treats this verse with respect and interprets tyāga as the Gītā interprets it: not the abandonment of deeds, but the abandonment of the fruit (18.2, 18.11). Read this way, the verse contradicts neither ritual, nor offspring, nor property: what is rejected is not what a person has, but what he has it for. And note that this very book, a few lines further on, will not forbid bathing, alms-giving, or the service of an image (24–25).