Upanishads · Varāha 4.17
॥
Devanāgarī
यत्र नासन्न सद्रूपो नाहं नाप्यनहंकृतिः । केवलं क्षीणमनन आस्तेऽद्वैतेऽतिनिर्भयः
Transliteration (IAST)
yatra nāsanna sadrūpo nāhaṃ nāpyanahaṃkṛtiḥ | kevalaṃ kṣīṇamanana āste'dvaite'tinirbhayaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत्र न अ-सत् न सत्-रूपःyatra na a-sat na sat-rūpaḥwhere neither the non-existent nor the existent form
न अहं न अपि अन्-अहंकृतिःna ahaṃ na api an-ahaṃkṛtiḥneither 'I' nor the absence of ego-making
केवलं क्षीण-मननःkevalaṃ kṣīṇa-mananaḥwith reflection alone exhausted
आस्ते अ-द्वैते अति-निर्भयःāste a-dvaite ati-nirbhayaḥhe dwells in the non-dual, exceedingly fearless
Translation
"Where there is neither the non-existent nor the existent form, neither 'I' nor the absence of ego-making, — there, with reflection alone exhausted, he dwells in the non-dual, exceedingly fearless."
Version
63d544be51ad · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Worth noting is the word ati-nirbhaya, "exceedingly fearless," for it is the only positive one in the whole verse. Everything else is negation: neither the existent nor the non-existent, neither "I" nor not-I. And here, at the end of a list of negations, a property again appears; and we have noted such endings when reading the third chapter (3.19) and the Panchabrahma (13).
Let us add what deserves saying of fearlessness itself, for it is named fittingly here. Fear, by these books, is a direct consequence of a second: the Brihadaranyaka says dvitiyad vai bhayam bhavati, "fear comes from a second" (1.4.2). That is, where there is no other, there is no one to fear; and hence fearlessness is a legitimate conclusion from non-duality.
The Vaishnava side knows this argument and answers it with a distinction worth citing. Fear comes from a second — but not every second is fearsome. A child with its mother is not afraid; and yet the mother is a second.
That is, fear arises not from the presence of another, but from uncertainty about one's relation with him; and hence fearlessness is attained by two different paths: by removing the other, or by assurance in him. It holds to the second path; and of sharanagati and the word abhaya, "fearlessness," granted by Rama, discussed when reading the Rama-tapani.