Upanishads · Yājñavalkya 19
॥
Devanāgarī
रिपौ बद्धे स्वदेहे च समैकात्म्यं प्रपश्यतः । विवेकिनः कुतः कोपः स्वदेहावयवेष्विव
Transliteration (IAST)
ripau baddhe svadehe ca samaikātmyaṃ prapaśyataḥ | vivekinaḥ kutaḥ kopaḥ svadehāvayaveṣviva
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
रिपौ बद्धे स्व-देहे चripau baddhe sva-dehe cain an enemy, in one bound, and in his own body
सम-एकात्म्यं प्रपश्यतःsama-ekātmyaṃ prapaśyataḥseeing equal unity
विवेकिनः कुतः कोपःvivekinaḥ kutaḥ kopaḥfor the discerning one, whence anger
स्व-देह-अवयवेषु इवsva-deha-avayaveṣu ivaas toward the limbs of his own body
Translation
For the discerning one, seeing equal unity in an enemy, in one bound, and in his own body, whence would anger come — as toward the limbs of his own body?
Version
f42dce9ce813 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Three verses on anger begin, and they are, to my mind, the finest thing in the book after the fourth. The first argument: to be angry at an enemy is as absurd as being angry at one's own hand. It is worth examining the comparison, for it is precise.
A person who has hurt himself does not get angry at his hand. He may be annoyed, but there is no anger, for anger requires another. And it is said: one who sees in an enemy the same as in himself is deprived of the object of anger.
The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this argument and grounds it differently, and the distinction is worth naming. By the present reckoning, anger falls away because everything is one. By hers — because everything is His; and the offender is His property, not mine.
The difference is worth voicing. On the first ground, anger falls away together with every relation: there is no one to forgive, for there is no other. On the second, it falls away, and the other remains; and so the possibility of forgiving him remains, which is an act, not the absence of one.
The Gītā gives both grounds side by side. On one hand — sarva-bhūta-sthaṃ ātmānaṃ, "one who is unified sees the self abiding in all beings" (6.29). On the other — yo māṃ paśyati sarvatra, "one who sees Me everywhere" (6.30).
And it ends, as was discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (10.10), not with dispassion but with compassion: ātmaupamyena sarvatra samaṃ paśyati, "one who sees the same everywhere by likeness to himself" (6.32).