Upanishads · Varāha 2.71
॥
Devanāgarī
प्रारब्धान्ते देहहानिर्मायेति क्षीयतेऽखिला । अस्तीत्युक्ते जगत्सर्वं सद्रसं ब्रह्म तद्भवेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
prārabdhānte dehahānirmāyeti kṣīyate'khilā | astītyukte jagatsarvaṃ sadrasaṃ brahma tadbhavet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
प्रारब्ध-अन्ते देह-हानिःprārabdha-ante deha-hāniḥat the end of the begun, abandonment of the body
माया इति क्षीयते अखिलाmāyā iti kṣīyate akhilāall illusion is dissolved
अस्ति इति उक्ते जगत् सर्वंasti iti ukte jagat sarvaṃwhen it is said 'exists,' the whole world
सत्-रसं ब्रह्म तत् भवेत्sat-rasaṃ brahma tat bhavetlet it become that brahman, the essence of what is
Translation
"At the end of the begun [karma], the abandonment of the body; all illusion is dissolved. When 'exists' is said, let the whole world, having the essence of what is, become that brahman."
Version
bf9a22e9b756 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is the phrase asti iti ukte, "when 'exists' is said." That is, what is named as the ground is the word of being: everything of which one can say "exists" partakes of that which pre-eminently is. This argument was examined when reading verse twenty-six, and it was noted it is unassailable by construction, and hence communicates nothing.
Let us add another reading here, under which the verse says more. It says sad-rasam, "having the essence of what is"; and the word rasa means "sap, taste, essence." Read this way, it is not said "the world is brahman," but "the world has His essence": it is not an empty appearance, but something suffused by that which is.
This reading the Vaishnava side accepts, and it coincides with its shakti-parinama-vada, discussed when reading the Krishna Upanishad (2.4): it is not He who transforms, but His power; and hence the world is real and dependent at once. Let us add the word rasa, for it is central for it. The Taittiriya says raso vai sah, "He is taste; having obtained taste, a person becomes blissful" (2.7); discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.48).
Joining both passages gives an arrangement worth holding onto: the world has His taste; that is, everything in the world that attracts, attracts through Him, and every pleasantness is a reflection. Read this way, renunciation ceases to be rejection and becomes discernment: what is rejected is not the taste, but its counterfeit.