Upanishads · Bhāvanā p28
॥
Devanāgarī
कर्तव्यमकर्तव्यमिति भावनायुक्त उपचारः । अस्ति नास्तीति कर्तव्यतानूपचारः
Transliteration (IAST)
kartavyamakartavyamiti bhāvanāyukta upacāraḥ | asti nāstīti kartavyatānūpacāraḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कर्तव्यम् अ-कर्तव्यम् इतिkartavyam a-kartavyam iti"should be done" and "should not be done"
भावना-युक्तः उपचारःbhāvanā-yuktaḥ upacāraḥa service joined with representation
अस्ति नास्ति इतिasti nāsti iti"exists" and "does not exist"
कर्तव्यता-अनूपचारःkartavyatā-anūpacāraḥnon-service by way of obligation
Translation
"Should be done" and "should not be done" — a service joined with representation; "exists" and "does not exist" — non-service by way of obligation.
Version
391e9a07dfd9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line is obscure and apparently corrupted in the manuscripts; it must be interpreted with caution. Apparently it concerns the fact that the pairs "should — should not" and "exists — does not exist" are inner correspondences of ritual services; that is, the wavering between "to do or not to do" and between "does it exist or not" is reinterpreted as rite. It is worth pausing, however, on these very pairs, for they name two chief anxieties of a person, and name them precisely.
The first — kartavyam akartavyam, "should and should not": this is the eternal "how should one act rightly." The second — asti nāsti, "exists and does not exist": this is "does what is spoken of even exist at all." The first torments the person of action, the second the person of thought; and neither is resolvable by the means of the one tormented by it.
The Vaiṣṇava side gives one and the same answer to both, and it is not found in reasoning. The Gītā ends with Arjuna, having agonized through the whole book over the question "should or should not," receiving not a rule but a face: "abandoning all dharmas, come to Me alone for refuge" (18.66). And to the question "does it exist or not," the answer there is the same: not a proof, but — "here I am" (chapter 11).
This is why, for all our respect for analysis, books of this kind resolve neither question. Analysis of structure does not answer "how should I act"; that is answered by the one you have trusted.