Upanishads · Varāha 3.3
॥
Devanāgarī
आनन्दरूपोऽहमखण्डबोधः परात्परोऽहं घनचित्प्रकाशः । मेघा यथा व्योम न च स्पृशन्ति संसारदुःखानि न मां स्पृशन्ति
Transliteration (IAST)
ānandarūpo'hamakhaṇḍabodhaḥ parātparo'haṃ ghanacitprakāśaḥ | meghā yathā vyoma na ca spṛśanti saṃsāraduḥkhāni na māṃ spṛśanti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आनन्द-रूपः अहम्ānanda-rūpaḥ ahamI am the form of bliss
अ-खण्ड-बोधःa-khaṇḍa-bodhaḥundivided awareness
परात् परः अहं घन-चित्-प्रकाशःparāt paraḥ ahaṃ ghana-cit-prakāśaḥhigher than the highest am I, dense light of consciousness
मेघाः यथा व्योमmeghāḥ yathā vyomaas clouds [do not touch] the sky
न च स्पृशन्तिna ca spṛśantido not touch
संसार-दुःखानि न मां स्पृशन्तिsaṃsāra-duḥkhāni na māṃ spṛśantithe sorrows of the cycle do not touch me
Translation
"I am the form of bliss, undivided awareness; higher than the highest am I, dense light of consciousness. As clouds do not touch the sky, so the sorrows of the cycle do not touch me."
Version
ad5fc41c6610 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The comparison with clouds and the sky is given, and it is one of the finest of its kind; it deserves examination. Clouds float across the sky and do not wet the sky: the sky remains the same, whether clear or overcast. The comparison is precise and common in Vaishnava practice; and of the soul not being stained, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (5.14), where the Gita's verse 13.32 was cited.
Let us add, however, what is implicit in the comparison and speaks against the reading for whose sake it is cited. Clouds truly exist. They are no mirage: they carry water, cast shade, pour rain.
That is, the comparison asserts not the illusoriness of sufferings, but their non-involvement with the one behind them; and these are two different things. Let us add what follows from the comparison practically. A person under rain gets wet, though the sky does not get wet. And if he is the sky, he does not get wet; but if he is the one under the rain, he needs shelter.
The Vaishnava side answers this with a distinction worth citing. The soul, in essence, is not stained — and yet suffers; and it suffers because it has identified itself with what gets wet. Hence its means is not to convince a person he is not getting wet, but to lead him out from under the rain; and of the boat across the sea of existence, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.38).