Upanishads · Yājñavalkya 22
॥
Devanāgarī
यत्र सुप्ता जना नित्यं प्रबुद्धस्तत्र संयमी । प्रबुद्धा यत्र ते विद्वान्सुषुप्तिं याति योगिराट्
Transliteration (IAST)
yatra suptā janā nityaṃ prabuddhastatra saṃyamī | prabuddhā yatra te vidvānsuṣuptiṃ yāti yogirāṭ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत्र सुप्ताः जनाः नित्यंyatra suptāḥ janāḥ nityaṃwhere people always sleep
प्रबुद्धः तत्र संयमीprabuddhaḥ tatra saṃyamīthere the self-controlled is awake
प्रबुद्धाः यत्र ते विद्वान्prabuddhāḥ yatra te vidvānwhere they are awake, there the knower
सुषुप्तिं याति योगि-राट्suṣuptiṃ yāti yogi-rāṭgoes into deep sleep — the king of yogīs
Translation
Where people always sleep, there the self-controlled is awake; where they are awake, there the knower, the king of yogīs, goes into deep sleep.
Version
8b3b1fa28c41 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The verse is taken almost word for word from the Gītā and is one of its most famous: yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṃ tasyāṃ jāgarti saṃyamī, yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ — "what is night for all beings, in that the self-controlled is awake; and in what beings are awake, that is night for the seeing sage" (2.69). It is worth examining the image, for it is often understood externally. It does not mean that the ascetic sleeps by day and does not sleep by night. It concerns the objects of attention.
What is lively and engaging for everyone — gain, fame, hostility — does not exist for him, as what happens in a room does not exist for one asleep. And what no one notices is, for him, evident. Let us add what follows from the image and is worth keeping.
Two people can be in the same room and live in different worlds; and the difference between them is not in ability, but in what exists for them. Hence it is useless to argue with a person of a different disposition about what matters: he does not deny — he does not see, as one asleep does not deny a conversation held over him. The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this position and adds to it what is essential for her.
Awakening, for her, is not a consequence of reasoning but a consequence of śravaṇa: a person begins to see what he has heard about. And so her means of addressing people is not argument, but narrative; one does not persuade the sleeping — one wakes them.