Upanishads · Avadhūta 8
॥
Devanāgarī
न निरोधो न चोत्पत्तिर्न बद्धो न च साधकः । न मुमुक्षुर्न वै मुक्त इत्येषा परमार्थता
Transliteration (IAST)
na nirodho na cotpattirna baddho na ca sādhakaḥ | na mumukṣurna vai mukta ityeṣā paramārthatā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न निरोधः न च उत्पत्तिःna nirodhaḥ na ca utpattiḥneither cessation nor arising
न बद्धः न च साधकःna baddhaḥ na ca sādhakaḥneither one bound nor one striving
न मुमुक्षुः न वै मुक्तःna mumukṣuḥ na vai muktaḥneither one desiring liberation nor one liberated
इति एषा परम-अर्थताiti eṣā parama-arthatāsuch is the highest truth
Translation
Neither cessation nor arising, neither one bound nor one striving, neither one desiring liberation nor one liberated — such is the highest truth.
Version
4e9116bc93d3 · published Aug 6, 2026, 4:24:37 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The same verse of Gauḍapāda (Māṇḍūkya-kārikā 2.32) with which the Ātma-upaniṣad ended; we examined it there (31), and I will not repeat the arguments. Let me add here one thing pertaining to this book. The verse stands here in the middle, not at the end; and after it the book still speaks for twenty-four more lines about what one who has attained does and does not do.
This juxtaposition is instructive. If there is neither one striving nor one liberated, there is no point in telling how he lives: there is no one to describe. Yet the book describes — and describes in detail: what he eats, where he sleeps, whether he reads scripture, whether he reveres the form of Viṣṇu.
The Vaiṣṇava reading takes from this its usual answer, discussed more than once. Such verses are extreme expressions, and the whole book cannot be measured by them; it must be measured by what it says when it describes a living person. And in describing a living person, it invariably gives him deeds, joy, and gratitude — as will be seen at its very end, where he repeats "blessed am I" thirty times.