Upanishads · Varāha 3.30
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वेच्छाकलनाशान्तावात्मलाभोदयाभिधः । स पुनः सिद्धिवाञ्छायां कथमर्हत्यचित्ततः
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvecchākalanāśāntāvātmalābhodayābhidhaḥ | sa punaḥ siddhivāñchāyāṃ kathamarhatyacittataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्व-इच्छा-कलना-शान्तौsarva-icchā-kalanā-śāntauat the stilling of all desire and mental construction
आत्म-लाभ-उदय-अभिधःātma-lābha-udaya-abhidhaḥcalled the rise of the attainment of the self
सः पुनः सिद्धि-वाञ्छायांsaḥ punaḥ siddhi-vāñchāyāṃhe, again, in a wish for perfections
कथम् अर्हति अ-चित्ततःkatham arhati a-cittataḥhow could he be capable, being without consciousness [of a doer]?
Translation
"He who is called 'the rise of the attainment of the self,' at the stilling of all desire and mental construction, — how could he, again, be capable of a wish for perfections, being without consciousness [of a doer]?"
Version
d044c5b0e4ec · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third chapter ends, and it is worth looking back over it, for it is small and highly non-uniform. Three different works have converged in it, and this is visible to the naked eye. The first — nondualist: "the single is not manifold" (3.1), lists of negations (3.18), comparisons with the shell and the mirage (3.15), silence as conclusion (3.6).
The second — Vaishnava, and moreover the most direct in the whole book: the light of Hari and "not otherwise" (3.11), remembrance of the feet and "nothing besides" (3.12), the name Janardana at the end of a list of negations (3.19). The third — sober and worldly: praising a wealthy man (3.13), skilled at others' faults (3.25), the appropriation of the spiritual as demonhood (3.23), confused about the directions (3.17). The finest things in the chapter belong, in my view, to this third class; and worth noting is that it does not depend on the school: both one who reads the book nondualistically and one who reads it Vaishnava-wise will find these four passages equally true.
Such passages are few in these books, and precious: they are observations of a human being, not conclusions from premises. The fourth chapter, to which we now turn, will leave both aside and take up something quite different: the seven stages of knowledge and the teaching of jivan-mukti, "liberation while living."