Upanishads · Varāha 4.9
॥
Devanāgarī
परप्रयुक्तेन चिरं प्रत्ययेनावबोधनम् । पदार्थभावनानाम षष्ठी भवति भूमिका
Transliteration (IAST)
paraprayuktena ciraṃ pratyayenāvabodhanam | padārthabhāvanānāma ṣaṣṭhī bhavati bhūmikā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पर-प्रयुक्तेन चिरंpara-prayuktena ciraṃimpelled by another, for a long time
प्रत्ययेन अवबोधनम्pratyayena avabodhanamawakening by a notion
पदार्थ-भावना-नामpadārtha-bhāvanā-nāmanamed cessation of the perception of objects
षष्ठी भवति भूमिकाṣaṣṭhī bhavati bhūmikāis the sixth stage
Translation
"When awakening by a notion [comes] only after a long time and impelled by another, — that is the sixth stage, named cessation of the perception of objects."
Version
67b0af98a81a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The stage is described through its outward sign, and this deserves noting, for the device here differs from the earlier definitions. It is said: such a person must be woken, and woken for a long time; he does not return to objects by himself. That is, at the sixth stage, differentiation of objects no longer occurs of itself: it is possible, but only prompted from outside.
This description, apparently, is drawn from life: it describes a person so immersed that he must be called twice. Let us add, however, what deserves saying of this as a goal. A state in which a person must be woken is a state of helplessness; and his whole future depends on whether there is someone to feed him.
Hence, incidentally, the custom discussed when reading the Yajnavalkya (p16): such ascetics always had disciples, without whom they would not have survived. The Vaishnava side does not hold this ideal and cannot, for its own attained ones are described differently. Its description is a person who walks, sings, and deals with people; of the six Gosvamis, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.29), and their manner of life was cited there: they slept little, wrote books, walked from village to village.
The difference here is not in the intensity of the state, but in its direction: one leads out of the world, the other returns one to it with a task.