Upanishads · Kṛṣṇa 1.16
॥
Devanāgarī
शमो मित्रः सुदामा च सत्याक्रूरोद्धवो दमः । यः शङ्खः स स्वयं विष्णुर्लक्ष्मीरूपो व्यवस्थितः
Transliteration (IAST)
śamo mitraḥ sudāmā ca satyākrūroddhavo damaḥ | yaḥ śaṅkhaḥ sa svayaṃ viṣṇurlakṣmīrūpo vyavasthitaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शमः मित्रः सुदामा चśamaḥ mitraḥ sudāmā cacalm — the friend Sudāmā
सत्य-अक्रूरः उद्धवः दमःsatya-akrūraḥ uddhavaḥ damaḥtruth — Akrūra, Uddhava — restraint
यः शङ्खः सः स्वयं विष्णुःyaḥ śaṅkhaḥ saḥ svayaṃ viṣṇuḥthe conch — He Himself, Viṣṇu
लक्ष्मी-रूपः व्यवस्थितःlakṣmī-rūpaḥ vyavasthitaḥestablished in the form of Lakṣmī
Translation
"Calm is the friend Sudāmā; truth is Akrūra; Uddhava is restraint; the conch is He Himself, Viṣṇu, established in the form of Lakṣmī."
Version
13672520f9e2 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
It is worth noting that now friends are mapped, not enemies: Sudāmā, Akrūra, Uddhava. And they are assigned not vices but virtues: śama ("calm"), satya ("truth"), dama ("restraint"). The correspondence with Sudāmā is well chosen and worth explaining. Sudāmā is the poor brahmin who brought Kṛṣṇa a handful of flattened rice; he was discussed when reading the Rudrākṣa-jābāla (3p13).
He is assigned śama, "calm"; and this is precise: he asked for nothing. His story ends with him returning home and finding a palace where his hut had stood; and the Bhāgavatam specially notes that he did not ask, and that the gift was given without being requested (10.80–81). Akrūra is assigned satya, "truth," and this too fits: he was sent by Kaṃsa to deceitfully carry Kṛṣṇa off from Vṛndāvana, and he carried out the errand without hiding from Him why he was going.
Uddhava is assigned dama, "restraint": he is the one to whom the Uddhava-gītā is spoken, and in the Bhāgavatam he is depicted as the most discerning of devotees. Let us add what is worth noting in the very structure of this mapping. Enemies are named vices, friends virtues; that is, the story is read as the struggle of qualities within one person.
This reading is correct and useful; but the other side, discussed when reading the third verse, must also be kept: the friends do not thereby stop being persons. Sudāmā is a virtue — and he is also the man who was embarrassed by his flattened rice.