Upanishads · Avadhūta 18
॥
Devanāgarī
अहं मनुष्य इत्यादिव्यवहारो विनाप्यमुम् । विपर्यासं चिराभ्यस्तवासनातोऽवकल्पते
Transliteration (IAST)
ahaṃ manuṣya ityādivyavahāro vināpyamum | viparyāsaṃ cirābhyastavāsanāto'vakalpate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अहं मनुष्यः इति आदि-ahaṃ manuṣyaḥ iti ādi-'I am a man' and the like
व्यवहारः विना अपि अमुम्vyavahāraḥ vinā api amumsuch dealing occurs even without this [wrongness]
विपर्यासं चिर-अभ्यस्त-viparyāsaṃ cira-abhyasta-the wrongness; from a long-practiced
वासनातः अवकल्पतेvāsanātaḥ avakalpateinclination it arises
Translation
Such dealing as 'I am a man' occurs even without this wrongness: it arises from a long-practiced inclination.
Version
16e90bfd2892 · published Aug 6, 2026, 4:24:37 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
This line is subtle and resolves a difficulty otherwise unavoidable. The difficulty is this: if one who has attained does not consider himself the body, why does he say "I am a man," "I went," "I am cold"? He is surely not lying.
The answer given is: such vyavahāra, "dealing," does not require the delusion; it proceeds by cirābhyasta-vāsanā, "a long-practiced inclination" — that is, by a habit accumulated over a lifetime. This is an excellent answer, and it coincides with what we noted when reading the Annapūrṇā (4.52) about the image of a scorched seed: the habits remain, but there is no longer any germinating power in them. The person says "I am cold" as he always did; but behind the word there no longer stands the conviction that "I" is what feels cold.
The Vaiṣṇava reading accepts this explanation fully and finds it doubly useful. First, it explains why those who have attained behave in an ordinary way and why they cannot be told apart from outside. Second, it removes an absurd demand some place on themselves: to stop saying "I." One must speak as everyone does; what changes is not the speech, but what stands behind it.