Upanishads · Varāha 3.4
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वं सुखं विद्धि सुदुःखनाशात्सर्वं च सद्रूपमसत्यनाशात् । चिद्रूपमेव प्रतिभानयुक्तं तस्मादखण्डं मम रूपमेतत्
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvaṃ sukhaṃ viddhi suduḥkhanāśātsarvaṃ ca sadrūpamasatyanāśāt | cidrūpameva pratibhānayuktaṃ tasmādakhaṇḍaṃ mama rūpametat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वं सुखं विद्धिsarvaṃ sukhaṃ viddhiknow everything as happiness
सु-दुःख-नाशात्su-duḥkha-nāśātby the destruction of great suffering
सर्वं च सत्-रूपम्sarvaṃ ca sat-rūpamand everything as having the form of being
अ-सत्य-नाशात्a-satya-nāśātby the destruction of the untrue
तस्मात् अ-खण्डं मम रूपम् एतत्tasmāt a-khaṇḍaṃ mama rūpam etattherefore undivided is this my form
Translation
"Know everything as happiness — by the destruction of great suffering; and everything as having the form of being — by the destruction of the untrue; for it is consciousness joined with appearance. Therefore undivided is this my form."
Version
c73c7ee698e3 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The construction deserves examination, for it is built from the negative and hence curious. It says: everything is happiness — by the destruction of suffering; everything is being — by the destruction of the false. That is, a positive definition is derived from the negation of a negation.
This device is valid in reasoning: if suffering is absent, happiness remains; if the false is absent, the true remains. But worth noting is what it fails to give. Happiness defined as the absence of suffering is peace, not joy; and of the difference between them, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.35), where the distinction between brahma-ananda and prema-ananda was cited.
Let us briefly repeat: peace and love are different states, not different measures of one; a person who feels well because he is untroubled and a person who feels well because he is with someone differ not in the quantity of good feeling. Let us add what the Vaishnava side adds to this, giving its description a different form. Its Highest is defined not by the negation of suffering, but by presence: rasa, "taste," and prema, "love."
And hence its descriptions are positive and detailed — it lists form, companions, activities; whereas a teaching that defines happiness as the absence of misfortune is forced to remain silent about happiness itself.