Upanishads · Varāha 2.66
॥
Devanāgarī
अद्यास्तमेतु वपुराशशितारमास्तां कस्तावतापि मम चिद्वपुषो विशेषः । कुम्भे विनश्यति चिरं समवस्थिते वा कुम्भाम्बरस्य नहि कोऽपि विशेषलेशः
Transliteration (IAST)
adyāstametu vapurāśaśitāramāstāṃ kastāvatāpi mama cidvapuṣo viśeṣaḥ | kumbhe vinaśyati ciraṃ samavasthite vā kumbhāmbarasya nahi ko'pi viśeṣaleśaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अद्य अस्तम् एतु वपुःadya astam etu vapuḥlet my body set today
आ-शशितारम् आस्ताम्ā-śaśitāram āstāmor let it stand until the moon's end
कः तावता अपि ममkaḥ tāvatā api mamawhat is it to me
चित्-वपुषः विशेषःcit-vapuṣaḥ viśeṣaḥhaving a body of consciousness — what difference is there?
Translation
"Let my body set today or stand until the moon's end — what is it to me, having a body of consciousness — what difference? Whether a pot breaks or long endures, there is not the slightest difference for the space in the pot."
Version
7df7bc25806d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse is a model of fearlessness before death, and deserves noting, for it is expressed with dignity and without bravado. It is said simply: whether I die today or after a long time, there is no difference. Again the comparison with the pot, discussed more than once; there is no need to repeat the arguments.
Let us add something else, for the verse gives occasion. Fearlessness before death, in an abstract teaching and in a teaching of relation, arises from different grounds, and the difference deserves stating. Here it arises from there being nothing to lose: the body is not I, and nothing else exists.
For the Vaishnava side, it arises from there being someone to hand oneself over to: the Gita says "one who at the hour of departure remembers Me goes to My being" (8.5), and the one departing departs to someone. The first ground is more reliable in argument and colder in practice. The second is warmer, and requires the relation to be real.
Let us add an observation fitting here. People die in different ways, and those who have witnessed it know that reasoning about the imperishability of the self helps rarely, while the presence of the One addressed helps almost always. Hence, in Vaishnava practice, one does not lecture the dying about pots and space; one reads the Name to them and speaks with them.