Upanishads · Varāha 4.10
॥
Devanāgarī
षड्भूमिकाचिराभ्यासद्भेदस्यानुपलम्भनात् । यत्स्वभावैकनिष्ठत्वं सा ज्ञेया तुर्यगा गतिः
Transliteration (IAST)
ṣaḍbhūmikācirābhyāsadbhedasyānupalambhanāt | yatsvabhāvaikaniṣṭhatvaṃ sā jñeyā turyagā gatiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
षट्-भूमिका-चिर-अभ्यासात्ṣaṭ-bhūmikā-cira-abhyāsātby long practice on the six stages
भेदस्य अन्-उपलम्भनात्bhedasya an-upalambhanātfrom not perceiving difference
यत् स्व-भाव-एक-निष्ठत्वंyat sva-bhāva-eka-niṣṭhatvaṃthat single-directedness in one's own nature
सा ज्ञेया तुर्य-गा गतिःsā jñeyā turya-gā gatiḥshould be known as the path going to the fourth
Translation
"By long practice on the six stages, from not perceiving difference, — that single-directedness in one's own nature should be known as the path going to the fourth."
Version
a41481584eb2 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The seventh stage is defined through bhedasya anupalambhanat, "from not perceiving difference." Worth noting is the word anupalambhana, for it is more cautious than one might expect. It means "non-perception," not "absence"; that is, it is said difference is not perceived, not that it does not exist.
The difference between these two phrasings is the whole difference between a description of experience and an assertion about the world. We noted this when reading the second chapter (2.21), and let us briefly repeat: "I do not see a difference" and "there is no difference" are different statements, and the second does not follow from the first. A person in darkness does not see the difference between things; it does not follow that the things have merged.
The Vaishnava side builds its reading of all such passages on exactly this: it accepts the description and rejects the inference. Let us add what deserves noting in the word gati, "path, going," standing at the end. The seventh stage is called not a state, but a going; that is, even the summit of the ladder is described by a word of motion.
And this, in my view, is a slip in its favor: where everything has ended, there is nowhere to go; and yet the language still says "path" even here.