Upanishads · Varāha 4.18
॥
Devanāgarī
अन्तःशून्यो बहिःशून्यः शून्यकुम्भ इवाम्बरे । अन्तःपूर्णो बहिःपूर्णः पूर्णकुम्भ इवार्णवे
Transliteration (IAST)
antaḥśūnyo bahiḥśūnyaḥ śūnyakumbha ivāmbare | antaḥpūrṇo bahiḥpūrṇaḥ pūrṇakumbha ivārṇave
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अन्तः-शून्यः बहिः-शून्यःantaḥ-śūnyaḥ bahiḥ-śūnyaḥempty within, empty without
शून्य-कुम्भः इव अम्बरेśūnya-kumbhaḥ iva ambarelike an empty pot in the air
अन्तः-पूर्णः बहिः-पूर्णःantaḥ-pūrṇaḥ bahiḥ-pūrṇaḥfull within, full without
पूर्ण-कुम्भः इव अर्णवेpūrṇa-kumbhaḥ iva arṇavelike a full pot in the ocean
Translation
"Empty within, empty without — like an empty pot in the air; full within, full without — like a full pot in the ocean."
Version
9cda42f4b386 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is a famous verse, and, in my view, the finest example of how one comparison can be given twice, with opposite signs. The first half: an empty pot, lifted into the air. Within it is air, outside it is air; the wall separates nothing.
The second half: a full pot, lowered into the ocean. Within is water, outside is water; the wall again separates nothing. It is worth appraising how well this is done: the same position is expressed through emptiness and through fullness, and both times truly.
Let us add what the Vaishnava side notes in this comparison, and which gives it its chief argument. In both cases the pot remains. Were the pot to vanish, there would be neither "within" nor "without," and the comparison would lose its sense: there would be no one to be full.
That is, the very comparison brought to prove merging preserves the dividing wall — otherwise it cannot be stated. This objection is the very one we raised when examining ghatakasha, "the space in a pot"; and here it stands out even more clearly, for the pot is named directly. Let us add what it draws positively from the second half.
A full pot in the ocean is, by its reckoning, the exact image of its own position: water within, water around, and the water is the same — yet the pot still exists. That is, abheda in substance and bheda in vessel — both in one comparison.