Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 1.16
॥
Devanāgarī
पुत्रे मित्रे कलत्रे च रिपौ स्वात्मनि सन्ततम् । एकरूपं मुने यत्तदार्जवं प्रोच्यते मया
Transliteration (IAST)
putre mitre kalatre ca ripau svātmani santatam | ekarūpaṃ mune yattadārjavaṃ procyate mayā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पुत्रे मित्रे कलत्रे चputre mitre kalatre catoward son, toward friend, and toward wife
रिपौ स्व-आत्मनि सन्ततम्ripau sva-ātmani santatamtoward enemy, toward one's own self — constantly
एक-रूपं मुने यत् तत्eka-rūpaṃ mune yat tatwhat sameness, O sage, that
आर्जवं प्रोच्यते मयाārjavaṃ procyate mayāis called by me uprightness
Translation
"Sameness toward son, friend, wife, enemy, and one's own self, constant — that, O sage, is called by me uprightness."
Version
2896e506a8e2 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Arjava, "uprightness," is defined as eka-rupa, "sameness": being one and the same with son, friend, wife, enemy, and one's own self. This definition deserves examination, for it is unexpected and more precise than the ordinary one. Uprightness is usually taken to mean candor: saying what one thinks. Here something else is meant — unchangingness: not being a different person in different company.
The vice this opposes is familiar to everyone, and it deserves naming plainly. A person is gentle before a guest and rough with his own household; courteous to his superior and unbearable to his subordinate; and each time he is sincere, for at that moment he truly is so. It is precisely this fragmentation that is called here the absence of uprightness; and the remedy for it is not candor, but wholeness.
Worth noting too is that sva-atman, "one's own self," is included in the list. That is, one is required to be the same even alone with oneself; and this, by common testimony, is the hardest of all, for alone a person usually either flatters himself or condemns himself, and is rarely simply honest with himself. The Vaishnava side speaks of the same thing through the notion of sarala, "upright, simple," and ranks it high among the marks of a devotee. And it gives a ground that removes the need for pretense: one who begs nothing of people has no reason to change before them.
Hence simplicity, in its books, is bound up with nirapeksha, "expecting nothing": one who needs something from people becomes double; one who needs nothing is the same with an enemy as with a son.