Upanishads · Varāha 2.26
॥
Devanāgarī
स्वस्वरूपं स्वयं भुङ्क्ते नास्ति भोज्यं पृथक् स्वतः । अस्ति चेदस्तितारूपं ब्रह्मैवास्तित्वलक्षणम्
Transliteration (IAST)
svasvarūpaṃ svayaṃ bhuṅkte nāsti bhojyaṃ pṛthak svataḥ | asti cedastitārūpaṃ brahmaivāstitvalakṣaṇam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्व-स्वरूपं स्वयं भुङ्क्तेsva-svarūpaṃ svayaṃ bhuṅkteone's own true nature, itself, enjoys
न अस्ति भोज्यं पृथक् स्वतःna asti bhojyaṃ pṛthak svataḥthere is no object of enjoyment apart from itself
अस्ति चेत् अस्तिता-रूपंasti cet astitā-rūpaṃif there is [something], it, having the form of existence
ब्रह्म एव अस्तित्व-लक्षणम्brahma eva astitva-lakṣaṇamis itself brahman, whose mark is existence
Translation
"One's own true nature itself enjoys; there is no object of enjoyment apart from itself. If there is something, it, having the form of existence, is itself brahman, whose mark is existence."
Version
385fbf1b7b33 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line contains an argument built as a trap, and deserves examination, for it is common in nondualist polemic. It is constructed thus: nothing separate exists; and if you point to something separate, its very existence is brahman — so you have again pointed to brahman. The argument is unassailable by construction, and hence suspicious.
The objection to it is simple: an irrefutable assertion asserts nothing. If every possible objection is credited in advance to the position, the position communicates nothing about the world: it is a rule of word-usage, not information. The Vaishnava side answers such arguments not with a counter-argument, but with a distinction, and this distinction deserves citing.
It says: it is true that everything that exists, exists by His being; it is not true that it is Him. A ray exists by the sun's light; and yet the ray falling on my hand is not the sun, and I cannot say "the sun is on my hand." It expresses this distinction with the words ashraya and ashrita, "support and the supported"; and of the word pratishthita, "established, standing upon," it was discussed when reading the Bhasma-jabala (2.56).
Let us add the first half of the line: sva-svarupam svayam bhunkte, "one's own true nature itself enjoys." This phrase, read literally, is a description of solitude; and of what such a goal lacks, it was discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.47).