Upanishads · Yājñavalkya 16
॥
Devanāgarī
जातस्य ग्रहरोगादि कुमारस्य च धूर्तता । उपनीतेऽप्यविद्यत्वमनुद्वाहश्च पण्डिते
Transliteration (IAST)
jātasya graharogādi kumārasya ca dhūrtatā | upanīte'pyavidyatvamanudvāhaśca paṇḍite
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जातस्य ग्रह-रोग-आदिjātasya graha-roga-ādiin the newborn — seizures, illness, and the rest
कुमारस्य च धूर्तताkumārasya ca dhūrtatāand in the boy — trickery
उपनीते अपि अ-विद्यत्वम्upanīte api a-vidyatvameven in the initiated — lack of learning
अन्-उद्वाहः च पण्डितेan-udvāhaḥ ca paṇḍitein the learned — celibacy [remains]
Translation
In the newborn — seizures, illness, and the rest; and in the boy — trickery; even in the initiated — lack of learning; in the learned — celibacy [remains].
Version
c4a435b23c44 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of hardships continues, and it is worth noting its structure: at every step, its own misfortune. The infant falls ill; the boy tricks; the initiate does not learn; the one who learns does not marry. This construction is clever, and it is worth examining, for it is a device.
The misfortunes are chosen so as to cancel one another: what was achieved at one step spoils the next. He was taught — but he will not marry; he was married off — but he is poor. With such a construction there is no way out by design: every achievement turns into a new misfortune.
Let us say plainly what this is, and call it by name: this is despair, set out in the form of a list. Let us add what is worth saying about such a mood in general, for it occurs in more than ancient books alone. It can be a true description of a state, and it is never a true description of the world. A person for whom everything turns into misfortune is describing not life, but himself.
The Vaiṣṇava side sets against this mood not an objection, but a different description. The Bhāgavatam is full of family stories, and in them are illness, separation, death; but these are listed not as proof that life is not worth it, but as circumstances in which people served. Let us add a verse fitting here. The Gītā promises not the absence of hardships, but accompaniment: yoga-kṣemaṃ vahāmy aham, "I carry their acquisition and preservation" (9.22).
That is, hardships are not canceled; what is canceled is being alone in them; and this, to my mind, is the only honest comfort that can be offered.