Upanishads · Mahāvākya p6
॥
Devanāgarī
निखिलनिगमोदितसकामकर्मव्यवहारो लोकः
Transliteration (IAST)
nikhilanigamoditasakāmakarmavyavahāro lokaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
निखिल-निगम-उदित-nikhila-nigama-udita-proclaimed by the whole Veda
स-काम-कर्म-व्यवहारः लोकःsa-kāma-karma-vyavahāraḥ lokaḥthe world of interested deeds and daily custom
Translation
«The world of interested deeds and daily custom, proclaimed by the whole Veda.»
Version
73f652777f98 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A stark line, and it must be stated plainly: darkness includes even the ritual world of the Veda itself — “the world of interested deeds, proclaimed by the whole Veda.” That is, sacrifices, vows, and rites performed for a fruit are called the possession of darkness. This position is a commonplace in the upaniṣads and marks their difference from the literature before them. The Muṇḍaka states it with full clarity: “unsound are these boats in the form of sacrifices, eighteen-membered... fools who honor this as the highest go again and again to old age and death” (1.2.7).
Note that this is said within the Veda, about the Veda: one part of it speaks this way of another. The Vaiṣṇava side accepts and repeats this position, and the Bhāgavatam opens with almost the same words: dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo'tra, “here interested religion is rejected” (1.1.2). It adds, however, a distinction worth naming, for without it one arrives at the rejection of every deed.
What is condemned is not the deed, but sa-kāma, “with desire”: the calculation of a fruit. The same deed, performed as an offering, is not condemned at all, and Gītā verse 9.27 has had to be discussed more than once. Two consequences follow, and both deserve stating. The ritual world is not abolished — otherwise all of ordinary life would have to be abolished too. But nor is it held sufficient; and a person who carefully performs the code for gain stands, by this reckoning, in the same place as one who does not perform it.