Upanishads · Mahāvākya p26
॥
Devanāgarī
श्रीमहाविष्णुसायुज्यमवाप्नोतीत्युपनिषत्
Transliteration (IAST)
śrīmahāviṣṇusāyujyamavāpnotītyupaniṣat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
श्री-महा-विष्णु-सायुज्यम् अवाप्नोतिśrī-mahā-viṣṇu-sāyujyam avāpnotiattains union with Śrī Mahā-Viṣṇu
इति उपनिषत्iti upaniṣatsuch is the upaniṣad
Translation
«Attains union with Śrī Mahā-Viṣṇu. Such is the upaniṣad.»
Version
39186411f4e7 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The book ends unexpectedly, and this is its chief distinction. The whole of it has spoken of light, of the sun, of darkness, of brahman; not once has a name been given. And its last word: śrī-mahā-viṣṇu-sāyujyam, “union with Śrī Mahā-Viṣṇu.”
That is, the most abstract of books, having rejected samādhi, perfections, and the dissolution of the mind, ends with the name of a person. Let us look back over what has passed, to see what it has selected. It took from the Śvetāśvatara the verse about puruṣa, the “Man,” of the color of the sun, beyond the darkness (p14, p17) — that is, about a person. It took from the Puruṣa-sūkta the verse about the sacrifice by which the sacrifice is sacrificed (p18) — that is, about self-giving. It took from the Taittirīya the lines about the one who creates names and abides, naming (p15). And it ended with Viṣṇu.
This selection is, to my mind, the whole content of the book. There is almost nothing original in it; but what it has gathered is gathered pointing one way. The word sāyujya, “union,” was discussed reading the Rudrākṣa-jābāla (1.5), where the chief point was noted: the prefix sa- means “co-,” and a yoke is put on two.
Let us add what deserves saying in conclusion about the whole book. It contains a passage found nowhere else and worth remembering it for: naiṣa samādhiḥ, naiṣa yoga-siddhiḥ, naiṣa mano-layaḥ — “this is not samādhi, not the perfection of yoga, not the dissolution of the mind” (p12). The book rejects not something foreign, but the possession of its own circle; and having rejected three states, it names a fourth — union.
There is also what cannot be accepted, and which we have not softened: the prohibition on teaching “the ordinary” (p2), though here it is milder than usual, being set by state rather than by birth; and the ordinary promises to remove the five great sins through reading (p24).