Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 3.24
॥
Devanāgarī
परमात्मनि लीनं तत्परं ब्रह्मैव जायते । ततः स्तिमितगम्भीरं न तेजो न तमस्ततम्
Transliteration (IAST)
paramātmani līnaṃ tatparaṃ brahmaiva jāyate | tataḥ stimitagambhīraṃ na tejo na tamastatam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
परम-आत्मनि लीनं तत्parama-ātmani līnaṃ tatdissolved in the highest self, that
परं ब्रह्म एव जायतेparaṃ brahma eva jāyatehighest Brahman itself it becomes
ततः स्तिमित-गम्भीरंtataḥ stimita-gambhīraṃthen, motionless, deep
न तेजः न तमः ततम्na tejaḥ na tamaḥ tatamneither light nor darkness, spread out
Translation
"Dissolved in the highest self, that itself becomes the highest Brahman; then — motionless, deep, neither light nor darkness, spread out…**
Version
6282de4744e9 · published Aug 7, 2026, 7:25:06 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The description of the limit is given in two words, and they are good: stimita, "motionless," and gambhira, "deep." Stimita means "stilled, frozen, unwavering"; so is said of water without a ripple. Gambhira — "deep"; of water, and of a voice, and of a man.
Both words are taken from water, and together they give the image of a deep pool: motionless and deep. This image, I think, is better than many abstract descriptions, and the Vaishnava side uses it too. The Gita says of one who has attained peace that he is like the ocean: "as waters enter the ever-filling ocean, and it remains unmoved, — so does he attain peace, into whom all desires enter" (2.70). The word there is achala-pratishtham, "immovably established," and the image is the same.
Let us compare, though, the difference too, for it exists. Here the motionless is described as neither light nor darkness, that is, by negations; there — as an ocean into which waters enter, that is, by an image of fullness. This difference, I think, is the difference between "nothing remains" and "everything entered and did not disturb." Both are peaceful; but in one there is no one, and in the other someone stands, and does not waver.