Upanishads · Varāha 2.40
॥
Devanāgarī
कायशोषणमात्रेण का तत्र ह्यविवेकिनाम् । वल्मीकताडनादेव मृतः किं नु महोरगः
Transliteration (IAST)
kāyaśoṣaṇamātreṇa kā tatra hyavivekinām | valmīkatāḍanādeva mṛtaḥ kiṃ nu mahoragaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
काय-शोषण-मात्रेणkāya-śoṣaṇa-mātreṇaby mere drying-out of the body
का तत्र हि अ-विवेकिनाम्kā tatra hi a-vivekināmwhat good is there for the undiscerning?
वल्मीक-ताडनात् एवvalmīka-tāḍanāt evaby beating the anthill
मृतः किं नु महा-उरगःmṛtaḥ kiṃ nu mahā-uragaḥdoes the great serpent die?
Translation
"By mere drying-out of the body, what good is there for the undiscerning? Does the great serpent die from beating the anthill?"
Version
99fce0f04219 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The comparison is excellent, and deserves examination, for it is more precise than many others. A serpent lives in an anthill; the anthill is beaten — the serpent remains unharmed. That is, in drying out the body, one strikes the dwelling, not the dweller.
This comparison is well known in Indian literature and is cited whenever bodily austerity is discussed. It is worth saying why it is so good. It points not to the uselessness of austerity in general, but to a misdirection: the effort is applied where the adversary is not.
And the adversary is named: avivekinam, "of the undiscerning"; that is, the trouble is not in the body, but in the fact that a person does not discern. The Vaishnava side accepts this comparison and applies it likewise. The Gita says of those who exhaust the body that their austerity is asura-nishchayan, "of demonic resolve" (17.5–6); discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (2.3).
Let us add what it offers instead, which follows from the comparison itself. If the serpent is in its hole, it is lured out, not beaten out. And hence its means is not a struggle with the body, but offering the mind something better; discussed more than once when examining the verse of the Gita 2.59.
Let us add that the comparison also works the other way, which the book does not say: one also does not beat the anthill when one wishes to help. The body in which the soul lives is its dwelling; and to damage the dwelling while wishing the dweller well is the same error.