Upanishads · Avadhūta 11
॥
Devanāgarī
दुःखिनोऽज्ञाः संसरन्तु कामं पुत्राद्यपेक्षया । परमानन्दपूर्णोऽहं संसरामि किमिच्छया
Transliteration (IAST)
duḥkhino'jñāḥ saṃsarantu kāmaṃ putrādyapekṣayā | paramānandapūrṇo'haṃ saṃsarāmi kimicchayā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
दुःखिनः अ-ज्ञाः संसरन्तुduḥkhinaḥ a-jñāḥ saṃsarantulet the suffering ignorant wander [the round]
कामं पुत्र-आदि-अपेक्षयाkāmaṃ putra-ādi-apekṣayāat will, out of desire for sons and the rest
परम-आनन्द-पूर्णः अहंparama-ānanda-pūrṇaḥ ahaṃfull of the highest bliss am I
संसरामि किम् इच्छयाsaṃsarāmi kim icchayāfor what desire would I wander
Translation
Let the suffering ignorant wander [the round] at will, out of desire for sons and the rest; I, full of the highest bliss — for what desire would I wander?
Version
66b6de573aa2 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A series of lines begins, all built the same way: "let them do such-and-such; but I do not." It runs six lines (11–16), and it must be examined as a whole, because the tone in it matters more than the content. Here: let the ignorant wander for sons; why would I need to.
Let me say plainly what I dislike in these lines, and say it once. Their tone is haughty. The word ajña, "ignorant," is said of those who want children — and said with the ease with which one speaks of people of another sort.
Against this let us set what Vaiṣṇava books say. The Gītā, listing the marks of one heading toward the divine lot, places second and third adambhitva, "unpretentiousness," and ahiṃsā; and among the marks of the opposite lot names first dambha, darpa, abhimāna — "ostentation, arrogance, conceit" (16.4). Let us add that the argument itself is sound: one who is full has no need to acquire. Everything is correct except the looking down; and that look is exactly what distinguishes these lines from the Gītā, where the very same thing is said without a single contemptuous word.
This is why the Vaiṣṇava reading holds to Caitanya's rule: "more humble than a blade of grass." The fullness spoken of here is recognized not by a person having stopped desiring, but by his having stopped considering himself above those who desire.