Upanishads · Mahāvākya p10
॥
Devanāgarī
प्राणापानाभ्यां प्रतिलोमानुलोमाभ्यां समुपलभ्यैवं सा चिरं लब्ध्वा त्रिवृदात्मनि ब्रह्मण्यभिध्यायमाने सच्चिदानन्दः परमात्माविर्भवति
Transliteration (IAST)
prāṇāpānābhyāṃ pratilomānulomābhyāṃ samupalabhyaivaṃ sā ciraṃ labdhvā trivṛdātmani brahmaṇyabhidhyāyamāne saccidānandaḥ paramātmāvirbhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
प्राण-अपानाभ्यांprāṇa-apānābhyāṃby inhalation and exhalation
प्रतिलोम-अनुलोमाभ्यांpratiloma-anulomābhyāṃagainst the grain and with the grain
समुपलभ्य एवं सा चिरं लब्ध्वाsamupalabhya evaṃ sā ciraṃ labdhvāhaving thus perceived and held it long
त्रि-वृत् आत्मनि ब्रह्मणि अभिध्यायमानेtri-vṛt ātmani brahmaṇi abhidhyāyamānecontemplating the threefold self in brahman
सत्-चित्-आनन्दः परम-आत्मा आविर्भवतिsat-cit-ānandaḥ parama-ātmā āvirbhavatithe being-consciousness-bliss Supreme Self appears
Translation
«By inhalation and exhalation, against the grain and with the grain, having thus perceived and held it long — while contemplating the threefold self in brahman, the being-consciousness-bliss Supreme Self appears.»
Version
9a288ea9fa4e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line describes a practice and its outcome, and in the outcome stands a word for whose sake it must be examined: āvirbhavati, “appears.” The verb āvir-bhavati means “becomes evident, is disclosed, comes out into the open”; from āvis, “manifestly,” and bhū, “to be.” Note that this is not an attainment. It does not say “attains the Supreme Self,” does not say “becomes the Supreme Self”; it says — the Supreme Self appears.
That is, the action is ascribed to Him, not to the practitioner. This distinction is fundamental in Vaiṣṇava teaching, and was discussed reading the Jābāla-darśana (10.8), where the passive prakāśitaḥ, “manifested,” stood. Let us add here what was not said there.
The word āvirbhāva is a technical term in the Vaiṣṇava books and means the appearance of the deity in an image: when an image is consecrated, it is said that the Lord is āvirbhūta, “has appeared” in it. Its opposite is tirobhāva, “concealment.” That is, the point is not that He did not exist before and came into being, but that He existed and showed Himself.
This consideration removes an old difficulty worth mentioning. If the Highest is omnipresent, how does He “appear”? The answer: to appear does not mean to arrive, but to become visible; and what changes here is not He, but the conditions of seeing.
This is why all the work described in this line is work on the conditions, not on the object; and it does not produce the appearance, but removes what was obstructing it.