Upanishads · Varāha 2.75
॥
Devanāgarī
सलिले सैन्धवं यद्वत्साम्यं भवति योगतः । तथात्ममनसोरैक्यं समाधिरिति कथ्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
salile saindhavaṃ yadvatsāmyaṃ bhavati yogataḥ | tathātmamanasoraikyaṃ samādhiriti kathyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सलिले सैन्धवं यद्वत्salile saindhavaṃ yadvatas salt in water
साम्यं भवति योगतःsāmyaṃ bhavati yogataḥby union becomes uniform
तथा आत्म-मनसोः ऐक्यंtathā ātma-manasoḥ aikyaṃso the union of self and mind
समाधिः इति कथ्यतेsamādhiḥ iti kathyateis called samadhi
Translation
"As salt in water becomes uniform by union, so the union of self and mind is called samadhi."
Version
6bd8030bb51b · published Aug 7, 2026, 9:08:31 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The comparison with salt dissolved in water is given; and it is the same one discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (4.60), where the Brihadaranyaka (4.5.13) and the Chandogya (6.13) were cited. Let us briefly repeat the examination, for here the comparison is applied differently. In the Chandogya, Uddalaka bids his son throw salt in water and asks the next morning: "bring it to me." He cannot: the salt has dissolved. "Taste at the edge — how is it? — Salty. — In the middle? — Salty. — At the bottom? — Salty."
That is, the comparison speaks not of disappearance, but of omnipresence: the salt is everywhere, and hence cannot be taken from one place. Let us add that here the comparison is applied not to brahman and the soul, but to the self and the mind; and this changes the matter. Union of the self and mind is concentration, in which the mind has stopped distinguishing itself from what it looks upon; and this is a description of experience, not of the structure of the world.
That is, here the comparison is used legitimately: it describes a state. The Vaishnava side does not object to such a use, and gives a similar definition of samadhi: a mind unceasingly occupied with the Lord; discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (1.5). Let us add what it notes in the comparison, and what is rarely noticed. The salt has not ceased to be salt: the water is salty, not fresh. Were the salt to vanish, the taste would vanish with it.