Upanishads · Avadhūta 14
॥
Devanāgarī
निद्राभिक्षे स्नानशौचे नेच्छामि न करोमि च । द्रष्टारश्चेत्कल्पयन्तु किं मे स्यादन्यकल्पनात्
Transliteration (IAST)
nidrābhikṣe snānaśauce necchāmi na karomi ca | draṣṭāraścetkalpayantu kiṃ me syādanyakalpanāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
निद्रा-भिक्षे स्नान-शौचेnidrā-bhikṣe snāna-śaucesleep and begging, bathing and purification
न इच्छामि न करोमि चna icchāmi na karomi caI do not desire and do not perform
द्रष्टारः चेत् कल्पयन्तुdraṣṭāraḥ cet kalpayantuif onlookers imagine [something]
किं मे स्यात् अन्य-कल्पनात्kiṃ me syāt anya-kalpanātwhat would that be to me, from another's imagining
Translation
Sleep, begging, bathing, and purification I do not desire and do not perform; and if onlookers imagine something — what is another's imagining to me?
Version
6d28e9d52c72 · published Aug 6, 2026, 4:24:37 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
This line is one of those that must be read together with the twenty-fourth, where the exact opposite will be said: "let the body perform the worship of the deity, bathing, purification, the gathering of alms." Two passages stand in one book and in one speech; and there is no contradiction between them, if one understands what each is about. Here it says: na icchāmi, "I do not desire," and na karomi, "do not perform" — that is, I do not desire and do not do. There it will say: let the body do it. Agent and instrument are thus distinguished: the body washes and begs, while "I" wants and initiates nothing.
The Vaiṣṇava reading accepts this distinction and finds it the same as in the Gītā: "seeing, hearing, touching... let him think: I do nothing at all" (5.8) — and immediately it adds that "the senses move among the objects of the senses" (5.9). Look also at the second half of the line: kiṃ me syād anya-kalpanāt, "what is another's imagining to me?" This speaks of what onlookers will think; and it is sensible: one who lives with an eye to those watching will never be free, whatever he does.
Let us add only that indifference to others' opinion is a defense against vanity, not against responsibility. One need not worry what people will think of oneself; but one must worry whether someone might be led astray, and Vaiṣṇava books demand this directly.