Upanishads · Varāha 2.35
॥
Devanāgarī
नमो मह्यं परेशाय नमस्तुभ्यं शिवाय च । किं करोमि क्व गच्छामि किं गृह्णामि त्यजामि किम्
Transliteration (IAST)
namo mahyaṃ pareśāya namastubhyaṃ śivāya ca | kiṃ karomi kva gacchāmi kiṃ gṛhṇāmi tyajāmi kim
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नमः मह्यं पर-ईशायnamaḥ mahyaṃ para-īśāyaa bow to me, the highest lord
नमः तुभ्यं शिवाय चnamaḥ tubhyaṃ śivāya caa bow to Thee, benign
किं करोमि क्व गच्छामिkiṃ karomi kva gacchāmiwhat shall I do, where shall I go
किं गृह्णामि त्यजामि किम्kiṃ gṛhṇāmi tyajāmi kimwhat shall I take, what shall I leave
Translation
"A bow to me, the highest lord; a bow to Thee, benign. What shall I do? Where shall I go? What shall I take, what shall I leave?"
Version
91743d75576d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse continues the mutual bow of the preceding one, and worth noting is that the reciprocity is preserved: namo mahyam, "a bow to me," and namas tubhyam, "a bow to Thee." Of the meaning of this reciprocity it was discussed when reading verse thirty-four, and there is no need to repeat it. Let us add here an examination of the second half, for it consists of four questions, and the questions are fine ones.
Kim karomi — "what to do"; kva gachchhami — "where to go"; kim grihnami — "what to take"; tyajami kim — "what to leave." The questions are rhetorical and mean: nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to take or leave. Worth noting, however, is that these questions are the questions of an active person, not a reasoning one.
What is asked is not "what is truth," but "what shall I do"; and this, in my view, is a mark that the speaker is not occupied with abstraction. The Vaishnava side answers such questions, and not negatively. Arjuna in the Gita asks the same question — "what shall I do?" — and receives not "there is nothing to do," but a direct instruction: mat-karma-krit, "do deeds for Me" (11.55); sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja, "abandoning all laws, come to Me alone for refuge" (18.66).
Worth noting is that the same four are listed there too: what to do, what to leave, where to go, to whom to take refuge; and all four receive a positive answer. The difference between "nothing to do" and "do this" is, in substance, the whole difference between two teachings on the attained one; discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (1.23).