Upanishads · Varāha 3.15
॥
Devanāgarī
शुक्तिकाया यथा तारं कल्पितं मायया तथा । महदादि जगन्मायामयं मय्येव केवलम्
Transliteration (IAST)
śuktikāyā yathā tāraṃ kalpitaṃ māyayā tathā | mahadādi jaganmāyāmayaṃ mayyeva kevalam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शुक्तिकायाः यथा तारंśuktikāyāḥ yathā tāraṃas silver in a shell
कल्पितं मायया तथाkalpitaṃ māyayā tathācontrived by illusion, so
महत्-आदि जगत् माया-मयंmahat-ādi jagat māyā-mayaṃthe great and the rest, the world consisting of maya
मयि एव केवलम्mayi eva kevalamis in me alone
Translation
"As silver in a shell is contrived by illusion, so the world — from the great [principle] onward, consisting of maya — is in me alone."
Version
64329a2dab5c · published Aug 7, 2026, 9:08:31 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The comparison shuktika-rajata, "the shell and the silver," is given — the third of the great comparisons of the nondualist school, alongside the rope-serpent and the mirage. A mother-of-pearl shell shines on the sand, and is taken for a silver coin; on approach, one sees a shell. We have examined this comparison in various forms; let us briefly repeat what is in it and what is not.
What is in it is an error of recognition: one thing was taken for another. What is not in it is action: the silver that never was did nothing; no one grew richer or poorer. But the world acts; and hence the comparison works only in its first part.
Let us add what is implicit in the comparison, and spoken of less often. The error is possible only because the shell truly shines. Did it not shine, there would be no deception either.
That is, within the very deception there is something real that sustains it; and of the mirage as "a displaced truth," discussed when reading the second chapter (2.72). From this the Vaishnava side draws its reading: the world is not a fiction, but a reflection; the shine is real, but misread. And hence its means is not the denial of the shine, but recognizing the source: not "there is no silver," but "this is not silver, but light on a shell; and the light is from the sun."