Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 10.6
॥
Devanāgarī
साहं ब्रह्म न संसारी न मत्तोऽन्यः कदाचन । यथा फेनतरङ्गादि समुद्रादुत्थितं पुनः
Transliteration (IAST)
sāhaṃ brahma na saṃsārī na matto'nyaḥ kadācana | yathā phenataraṅgādi samudrādutthitaṃ punaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सा अहं ब्रह्म न संसारीsā ahaṃ brahma na saṃsārīI am that brahman, not one who cycles
न मत्तः अन्यः कदाचनna mattaḥ anyaḥ kadācanaand there is never another than I
यथा फेन-तरङ्ग-आदिyathā phena-taraṅga-ādias foam, waves, and the rest
समुद्रात् उत्थितं पुनःsamudrāt utthitaṃ punaḥhaving risen from the ocean, again
Translation
"I am that brahman, not one who cycles; and there is never another than I. As foam, waves, and the rest, having risen from the ocean, again…"
Version
35fd3e8e14e3 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A second great comparison is cited: waves and the ocean. Both sides cite this comparison in their disputes, and it is worth saying how each reads it, for it is among the most instructive. The nondualist reading: a wave is water and nothing else; its form is fleeting; the ocean is neither increased nor diminished by waves. So the separateness of a wave is an appearance.
The Vaishnava reading begins the same and diverges in the middle. A wave truly is water — there is no dispute here. But a wave is a wave as long as it is one; it rises, travels, breaks upon the shore, and wets one who stands there. All this the wave does, not the ocean in general.
So the comparison says not "the wave does not exist," but "the wave is not something other in substance"; and this is precisely what is called bheda-abheda, "difference-and-non-difference." Let us add what is weak in the comparison, and spoken of less often. The ocean does not love its waves and does not remember them. It does not rejoice when a wave has risen, and does not seek it out when it has broken.
While everything these books say of the Highest, including this one, ascribes to it knowledge and bliss. So the comparison with the ocean fails in this respect; and its failure is no small matter, for exactly here lies the whole question. Hence the Vaishnava side prefers personal comparisons: father and son, master and servant, lover and beloved. All of them are worse than the ocean in respect of unity of substance, and better in respect of what the discourse is actually for.