Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 1.24
॥
Devanāgarī
लोकत्रयेऽपि कर्तव्यं किंचिन्नास्त्यात्मवेदिनाम्
Transliteration (IAST)
lokatraye'pi kartavyaṃ kiṃcinnāstyātmavedinām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
लोक-त्रये अपि कर्तव्यंloka-traye api kartavyaṃand in the three worlds, subject to performance
किंचित् न अस्ति आत्म-वेदिनाम्kiṃcit na asti ātma-vedināmnothing there is for knowers of the self
Translation
"And in the three worlds, there is nothing subject to performance for knowers of the self."
Version
ab1ef59ebf9d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line repeats what has been said and is therefore short; but this repetition gives occasion to speak of what the verse itself does not contain — of the temptation such a teaching carries. The temptation must be named directly, for it is not imaginary and has shown itself more than once in history. The teaching that one who has attained has nothing to do is readily accepted by one who has not attained; and the result is a person who has abandoned his duties and explains this by saying he is above duty.
The Vaishnava side sets against this a rule that sounds blunt, but is useful. One must test not by words, but by marks: in one who has attained, by the Bhagavatam's description, mercy, harmlessness, patience, and simplicity appear (3.25.21). If a person says he is above duty, and is at the same time irritable, lazy, and easily offended, then he speaks untruth of himself.
It has a second, still more direct consideration, which follows from the very nature of the matter. Service, by its reckoning, is not a means that can be discarded upon attainment, but the very substance of the relationship; and hence the question "what is one who has attained to do" does not arise for it at all. The Gita speaks of this in a verse that deserves being held as its final word on action: "do your own task as a sacrifice to Me; thus you will come to Me" (9.27–28) — and nowhere is it said that action ends upon arrival.
Hence the difference between the two understandings of freedom deserves being stated plainly. One understands freedom as release from work; the other as release from compulsion in work. The first ends in rest; the second in labor undertaken because it is wanted.