Upanishads · Pañcabrahma 27
॥
Devanāgarī
एवमुक्त्वा महादेवो गालवस्य महात्मनः । कृपां चकार तत्रैव स्वान्तर्धिमगमत्स्वयम्
Transliteration (IAST)
evamuktvā mahādevo gālavasya mahātmanaḥ | kṛpāṃ cakāra tatraiva svāntardhimagamatsvayam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एवम् उक्त्वा महा-देवःevam uktvā mahā-devaḥhaving spoken thus, the great god
गालवस्य महा-आत्मनःgālavasya mahā-ātmanaḥto Gālava of great soul
कृपां चकार तत्र एवkṛpāṃ cakāra tatra evashowed grace right there
स्व-अन्तर्धिम् अगमत् स्वयम्sva-antardhim agamat svayamand Himself vanished
Translation
"Having spoken thus, the great god showed grace to Gālava, of great soul, right there — and Himself vanished."
Version
48f46b6e3689 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Two words are worth noting: kṛpāṃ cakāra, "showed grace," and svāntardhim agamat, "vanished." Their order is this: first grace was shown, then He vanished. This joining is constant in narratives of divine appearance and deserves examination, for it says something about the very structure of such encounters.
An appearance is brief. It does not last; having spoken and given, the one who appeared departs. It is worth asking why this is so, and the answer these books give is worth citing.
If the appearance lasted, it would cease to be an appearance and would become a circumstance; and a person stops noticing a circumstance. The Vaiṣṇava side expresses this position through the pair already named, āvirbhāva and tirobhāva, "appearance and concealment"; and that concealment is a deed was discussed when reading the sixteenth verse. Let us add what she says of separation, for it is relevant here.
The state that follows the departure of the one who appeared is called by her viprālambha, "separation," and is held higher than the state of meeting; it was discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (8.4). The basis given there was this: in separation the object is present more fully, for the mind is occupied with it undividedly. Hence the departure with which every appearance ends is, by her reading, not the end of grace but its continuation by other means; and Gālava, left alone, received more than he had while the great god stood before him.