Upanishads · Varāha 3.10
॥
Devanāgarī
निरुपाधिकनित्यं यत्सुप्तौ सर्वसुखात्परम् । सुखरूपत्वमस्त्येतदानन्दत्वं सदा मम
Transliteration (IAST)
nirupādhikanityaṃ yatsuptau sarvasukhātparam | sukharūpatvamastyetadānandatvaṃ sadā mama
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
निरुपाधिक-नित्यं यत्nirupādhika-nityaṃ yatwhat is unconditioned and eternal
सुप्तौ सर्व-सुखात् परम्suptau sarva-sukhāt paramin deep sleep, higher than all happiness
सुख-रूपत्वम् अस्ति एतत्sukha-rūpatvam asti etatthis having-the-form-of-happiness there is
आनन्दत्वं सदा ममānandatvaṃ sadā mamabliss, always mine
Translation
"What is unconditioned and eternal, what in deep sleep is higher than all happiness, — this having-the-form-of-happiness there is: my ever-present bliss."
Version
6b998daf40e3 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An argument from deep sleep, and we examined it when reading the second chapter (2.62); there is no need to repeat it. Let us add what deserves saying of a circumstance usually omitted. It is said: in deep sleep, bliss is higher than all happiness.
How is this known? From the testimony of the awakened one: "I slept sweetly." But this testimony is a memory, not an experience; and to remember what one was not conscious of is a strange thing.
Vedanta answers this: what is remembered is not the content, but the absence of disturbance; and this, in my view, is correct. That is, the bliss of deep sleep is, in fact, the absence of anxiety, recognized after the fact. And here the Vaishnava side sets its own distinction, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.35).
The absence of anxiety is peace; and peace truly does surpass every anxious pleasure. But it is not joy; and a person who slept sweetly his whole life would not call it happy. Hence its description of the Highest is not built on the image of sleep: it is built on the image of meeting and company; discussed when reading the Mahavakya (p19), where "those who came before" were cited.