Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 10.2
॥
Devanāgarī
नित्यः सर्वगतो ह्यात्मा कूटस्थो दोषवर्जितः । एकः सन्भिद्यते भ्रान्त्या मायया न स्वरूपतः
Transliteration (IAST)
nityaḥ sarvagato hyātmā kūṭastho doṣavarjitaḥ | ekaḥ sanbhidyate bhrāntyā māyayā na svarūpataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नित्यः सर्व-गतः हि आत्माnityaḥ sarva-gataḥ hi ātmāeternal, all-pervading indeed, the self
कूट-स्थः दोष-वर्जितःkūṭa-sthaḥ doṣa-varjitaḥunchanging, free of fault
एकः सन् भिद्यते भ्रान्त्याekaḥ san bhidyate bhrāntyābeing one, is divided by delusion
मायया न स्व-रूपतःmāyayā na sva-rūpataḥby illusion, not in its own essence
Translation
"The self is eternal, all-pervading indeed, unchanging, free of fault; being one, it is divided by delusion, by illusion, not in its own essence."
Version
faec872f0ff0 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The central position is set out: the self is one, and its division into many is bhranti, "delusion," and maya. Before objecting, it must be acknowledged that this position has both strength and beauty. Its strength is that it explains a great deal at once: why all beings equally do not want to suffer, why compassion is possible, why, at the depth of every experience, a person finds the same thing.
Now the objections, and the first is the one discussed when reading the end of the fourth khanda (4.63): whose is this delusion? If the self's, then the self is not free of fault, for to be deluded is a fault. If someone else's — but that "someone else" does not exist, for there is only one self.
A second objection, relevant to this line, deserves stating separately, for it rests on the word maya itself. This word means "power, might, the capacity to produce"; and in the Vedas it means skill, not deception: mayinam mayah, "the might of the mighty." Its meaning "illusion" is later and derivative.
The Gita uses it in the first sense and says: daivi hy esha gunamayi mama maya duratyaya, "this divine maya of Mine, composed of the gunas, is hard to overcome" (7.14). Worth noting is the word mama, "Mine." Maya is not an independent power and not pure absence: it belongs to someone.
And what belongs is not nonexistent; and what has an owner cannot be explained as a pure misunderstanding.