Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 3.35
॥
Devanāgarī
अशब्दमस्पर्शमरूपमव्ययं तथारसं नित्यमगन्धवच्च यत् । अनाद्यनन्तं महतः परं ध्रुवं तदेव शिष्यत्यमलं निरामयम्
Transliteration (IAST)
aśabdamasparśamarūpamavyayaṃ tathārasaṃ nityamagandhavacca yat | anādyanantaṃ mahataḥ paraṃ dhruvaṃ tadeva śiṣyatyamalaṃ nirāmayam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अ-शब्दम् अ-स्पर्शम् अ-रूपम्a-śabdam a-sparśam a-rūpamsoundless, untouchable, formless
अ-व्ययं तथा अ-रसंa-vyayaṃ tathā a-rasaṃundecaying, and likewise tasteless
अन्-आदि-अनन्तं महतः परंan-ādi-anantaṃ mahataḥ paraṃbeginningless, endless, beyond the great
ध्रुवं तत् एव शिष्यतिdhruvaṃ tat eva śiṣyatifirm — that alone remains
अ-मलं निर्-आमयम्a-malaṃ nir-āmayamstainless, unafflicted
Translation
"Soundless, untouchable, formless, undecaying, tasteless, eternal, scentless, beginningless and endless, beyond the great, firm, — that alone remains, stainless, unafflicted".
Version
0700eba4675e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The book ends with a list of negations, and this is its last verse. The list is taken almost word for word from the Kathaka (1.3.15): "soundless, untouchable, formless, undecaying, tasteless, eternal, scentless." One must answer such lists not by negating them, but by taking apart what they negate; and this was discussed when reading Rudra-hridaya (31), where the verse of the Shvetashvatara was cited: "without hands and feet He is swift and grasps; without eyes He sees; without ears He hears" (3.19).
Here, though, is a word worth noting, which this list itself breaks: tad eva shishyati, "that alone remains." This is the same avashishyate, "remains," that stood in the twenty-fifth line: "something existent remains." And so the list of negations ends not in emptiness, but in a remainder.
Let us, in conclusion, look back over the book, for it is finished. Three chapters: on breath, on the tongue, on consciousness. The first — a craftsman's chapter, honest, with a measure by the self and ten hindrances; the second — a eulogy to a mutilation, and this was said plainly; the third — a discourse pieced together from others' verses.
And what did it end on? The first chapter ended with two rejoicing together (1.86). The second — with the admission that a meeting is not won by practice (2.5), that it is given by Achyuta (2.12), and that one who has the word needs no technique (2.43). The third — with the fact that something existent remains (3.25), and that this remainder is amalam niramayam, "stainless, unafflicted."
These last two words, I think, are the best this book could have ended on. Niramaya means "without disease, unharmed"; and the book, which began with a list of ailments and ended with a list of negations, made its final word health.