Upanishads · Avadhūta 28
॥
Devanāgarī
धन्योऽहं धन्योऽहं दुःखं सांसारिकं न वीक्षेऽद्य । धन्योऽहं धन्योऽहं स्वस्याज्ञानं पलायितं क्वापि
Transliteration (IAST)
dhanyo'haṃ dhanyo'haṃ duḥkhaṃ sāṃsārikaṃ na vīkṣe'dya | dhanyo'haṃ dhanyo'haṃ svasyājñānaṃ palāyitaṃ kvāpi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
दुःखं सांसारिकंduḥkhaṃ sāṃsārikaṃthe suffering of the round
न वीक्षे अद्यna vīkṣe adyaI do not see today
स्वस्य अ-ज्ञानंsvasya a-jñānaṃmy own ignorance
पलायितं क्व अपिpalāyitaṃ kva apihas fled somewhere
Translation
Blessed am I, blessed am I: today I do not see the suffering of the round. Blessed am I, blessed am I: my own ignorance has fled somewhere.
Version
00ee9d22be54 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second line of jubilation, and in it there is a word worth writing out for its own sake: palāyitaṃ kvāpi, "has fled somewhere." It is said of one's own ignorance, and said as one speaks of a dog that was there and ran off: it is somewhere, but where, I do not know. Look at the lightness of this phrase. Not "destroyed by me," not "conquered," not "burned away by knowledge," but — fled, and to where, unknown. That is, the speaker does not credit himself with a victory: it left on its own, and he did not even notice when.
This phrase, to my mind, is precious and worth more than all the arguments of this book. Anyone who has lived through a long-standing trouble knows this feeling: one day you discover it is gone, and cannot say on which day it ended. The Vaiṣṇava reading treats such a description with full trust, for it coincides with what Vaiṣṇava books say about the working of grace. Grace does not wage war on darkness: it comes, and the darkness turns out not to be there — as it turns out not to be in a room where light has been brought in. One cannot ask "where did the darkness go?"; it has fled somewhere.