Upanishads · Varāha 2.28
॥
Devanāgarī
मत्स्वरूपपरिज्ञानात्कर्मभिर्न स बध्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
matsvarūpaparijñānātkarmabhirna sa badhyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मत्-स्वरूप-परिज्ञानात्mat-svarūpa-parijñānātfrom the full knowledge of my own true nature
कर्मभिः न सः बध्यतेkarmabhiḥ na saḥ badhyateby deeds he is not bound
Translation
"From the full knowledge of my own true nature, he is not bound by deeds."
Version
8e04c0f5ef7a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line is short, and worth noting in it is the word mat-svarupa, "my own true nature." That is, it is knowledge not of brahman in general that liberates, but of His own true nature; and the one speaking here is the boar. We have noted such places in this book more than once: they alternate with the nondualist ones, discussed when reading the thirteenth verse.
Let us add what deserves saying of the promise itself: not bound by deeds. It is a verbatim repetition of the verse of the Gita cited when reading the sixteenth: "deeds do not bind him" (4.41). But worth noting is that here one condition is set, while in the Gita there are three; and that here it is knowledge of Him, while in the Gita it is renunciation of deeds, the cutting of doubt, and self-possession.
This relation is, in my view, telling for the whole second chapter. It abbreviates: it takes what stands with conditions in the sources and presents it without conditions. Such abbreviation is a trait of later compilations and is simply explained: things are abbreviated for brevity, and conditions fall away first, for they are longer than promises.
The Vaishnava side, in such cases, holds to a rule discussed when reading the Panchabrahma (2.8): decide by the places where a subject is expounded, not by the places where it is merely named; and hence it reads such abbreviations by the original, not by the compilation.