Upanishads · Varāha 4.21
॥
Devanāgarī
यथास्थितमिदं यस्य व्यवहारयतोऽपि च । अस्तङ्गतं स्थितं व्योम स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
yathāsthitamidaṃ yasya vyavahārayato'pi ca | astaṅgataṃ sthitaṃ vyoma sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यथा-स्थितम् इदं यस्यyathā-sthitam idaṃ yasyafor whom this, as it stands
व्यवहारयतः अपि चvyavahārayataḥ api caand even while dealing with affairs
अस्तङ्-गतं स्थितं व्योमastaṅ-gataṃ sthitaṃ vyomahas set, like standing space
सः जीवत्-मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvat-muktaḥ ucyatethat one is called liberated while living
Translation
"For whom this [all], as it stands, has set like standing space — even while dealing with affairs — that one is called liberated while living."
Version
678566d890b8 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of marks of jivan-mukti, "liberation while living," begins, and it takes up the next ten verses. This list is famous in Indian literature and recurs, in various forms, in a great many books; it deserves full examination, for it is the chief reason this chapter was written. The first mark is this: he lives like anyone, and within, everything has set.
Worth noting is the word vyavaharayatah, "while dealing with affairs": that is, the person has not withdrawn, but trades, litigates, answers letters. This detail matters more than it seems: it separates jivan-mukti from asceticism. It is not said "who has abandoned affairs," but "who is in the midst of affairs."
The Vaishnava side gladly points to this, for its own teaching stands on the same, stated through yukta-vairagya, "united renunciation," discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (7.4). Its only difference is in what occupies the inside. Here, within is empty space, in which everything has set.
There, within is memory, discussed when reading the third chapter (3.12). Let us add the word astan-gata, "set," as the sun sets: not destroyed, but gone beyond the horizon. The word is precisely chosen, for it neither denies what was, nor leaves it in view.