Upanishads · Avadhūta 7
॥
Devanāgarī
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् । तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी
Transliteration (IAST)
āpūryamāṇamacalapratiṣṭhaṃ samudramāpaḥ praviśanti yadvat | tadvatkāmā yaṃ praviśanti sarve sa śāntimāpnoti na kāmakāmī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आपूर्यमाणम् अचल-प्रतिष्ठंāpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṃbeing filled, standing unshaken
समुद्रम् आपः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत्samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvatas waters enter the ocean
तद्वत् कामाः यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वेtadvat kāmāḥ yaṃ praviśanti sarveso he into whom all desires enter
सः शान्तिम् आप्नोति न काम-कामीsaḥ śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmīattains peace, not one who desires desires
Translation
As waters enter the ocean, being filled, [yet it] stands unshaken, so [too] he into whom all desires enter attains peace — not one who desires desires.
Version
aef7a34f4f44 · published Aug 6, 2026, 4:24:37 PM UTC
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The verse is taken word for word from the Gītā (2.70), and it is among the most beautiful in it. Let us examine the image, for it is often understood only by half. Rivers flow into the ocean continuously and in enormous quantity; the ocean receives them all and, in doing so, neither overflows its banks nor diminishes. Not "the rivers do not flow into it" — they flow, and all of them; yet it remains the same.
This is exactly the precise description of what is promised here: desires enter, and they are not abolished. What is abolished is something else — that the person is driven by them. Look at the contrast at the end: na kāma-kāmī, "not one who desires desires." This combination in the Gītā is deliberate: not one who has desires, but one who desires to desire — who needs the very wanting itself, for without it he is empty.
The Vaiṣṇava reading considers this distinction fundamental. A devotee has desires, and many of them; but he does not seek them out for himself and does not pine when they are absent. And the mark by which this is seen is given in the image itself: the banks. The ocean's are in place; and a person whose desires overflow their banks recognizes himself here without any interpretation needed.