Upanishads · Varāha 2.24
॥
Devanāgarī
स्वस्वरूपं तु चिन्मात्रं सर्वदा सर्वदेहिनाम् । नैव देहादिसङ्घातो घटवद्दृशिगोचरः
Transliteration (IAST)
svasvarūpaṃ tu cinmātraṃ sarvadā sarvadehinām | naiva dehādisaṅghāto ghaṭavaddṛśigocaraḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्व-स्वरूपं तु चित्-मात्रंsva-svarūpaṃ tu cit-mātraṃone's own true nature, however, is consciousness alone
सर्वदा सर्व-देहिनाम्sarvadā sarva-dehināmalways, for all embodied ones
न एव देह-आदि-सङ्घातःna eva deha-ādi-saṅghātaḥand not the aggregate of body and the rest
घट-वत् दृशि-गोचरःghaṭa-vat dṛśi-gocaraḥlike a pot, an object of sight
Translation
"One's own true nature, however, is always, for all embodied ones, consciousness alone, and not the aggregate of body and the rest, an object of sight, like a pot."
Version
76553d04b998 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is the word dehinam, "embodied ones," and, moreover, in the plural. Of the meaning of the word dehin, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (1.21): only one who enters a body as a dwelling can be embodied. Let us add what the plural here gives.
It is said sarva-dehinam, "of all embodied ones"; that is, they are many, and each has his own nature. Were there a single nature for all, the phrase would be impossible: one cannot say "all have their own" while meaning one. The Vaishnava side points to such phrasings constantly, for they slip into the most nondualist passages.
Let us add the comparison given in the verse: the body is called ghata-vat, "like a pot," that is, an object of sight. This comparison deserves noting, for we examined the pot in a different use — as a partition in space (Jabala-darshana 6.13). Here the pot is used differently and more correctly: it is a visible thing, and the comparison is aimed only at the fact that the body is seen, while the self is not.
In this use the comparison is beyond dispute; and it is worth noting that one and the same comparison, in a single literature, serves two different arguments — which confirms the rule of "one part," discussed when reading the Mahavakya (p11).