Upanishads · Varāha 2.8
॥
Devanāgarī
परप्रेमास्पदतया मा न भूवमहं सदा । भूयासमिति यो द्रष्टा सोऽहं विष्णुर्मुनीश्वर
Transliteration (IAST)
parapremāspadatayā mā na bhūvamahaṃ sadā | bhūyāsamiti yo draṣṭā so'haṃ viṣṇurmunīśvara
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पर-प्रेम-आस्पदतयाpara-prema-āspadatayāas the seat of the highest love
मा न भूवम् अहं सदाmā na bhūvam ahaṃ sadā'may I never cease to be, ever'
भूयासम् इति यः द्रष्टाbhūyāsam iti yaḥ draṣṭā'may I be' — who thus sees
सः अहं विष्णुः मुनि-ईश्वरsaḥ ahaṃ viṣṇuḥ muni-īśvarathat one am I, Vishnu, O lord of sages
Translation
"'As the seat of the highest love, may I never cease to be, ever; may I be!' — who sees thus, that one am I, Vishnu, O lord of sages."
Version
495bbd4228af · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth examining is the expression para-prema-aspadataya, "as the seat of the highest love"; and this is, in my view, the most remarkable combination of words in this chapter. Aspada means "place, seat, center"; para-prema — "highest love." That is, the ground on which a person wants to exist is called love: he wants to exist because he is that which is loved above all.
This argument continues the preceding one and is well known in Vedanta: everyone wants to live, and no one wants to vanish; therefore the self is the object of the highest love, for one does not wish to destroy what one loves. Worth noting too are the words ma na bhuvam, bhuyasam, "may I not cease to be, may I be." That is, the desire is stated not abstractly, but in the first person and the optative mood: it is a cry, not a proposition.
The Vaishnava side holds the word prema as its own chief one, distinguishing it from kama; discussed when reading the Rudraksha-jabala (2.15). Let us add what it draws from this argument, and what constitutes its correction. If the self is the seat of the highest love, let us ask: whose? Love belongs to someone and is directed at someone. If my love for myself is the highest, then I am both the lover and the beloved — and then there is no love, but self-satisfaction.
Hence its reading is this: the self is dear not to itself, but to the One whose it is; and the Gita's verse is cited — mamaivanisho jiva-loke, "My own eternal fragment" (15.7). Read this way, "may I be" is not a claim, but a response.