Upanishads · Varāha 4.23
॥
Devanāgarī
यो जागर्ति सुषुप्तिस्थो यस्य जाग्रन्न विद्यते । यस्य निर्वासनो बोधः स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
yo jāgarti suṣuptistho yasya jāgranna vidyate | yasya nirvāsano bodhaḥ sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यः जागर्ति सुषुप्ति-स्थःyaḥ jāgarti suṣupti-sthaḥwho wakes while abiding in deep sleep
यस्य जाग्रत् न विद्यतेyasya jāgrat na vidyatefor whom waking is not found
यस्य निर्वासनः बोधःyasya nirvāsanaḥ bodhaḥfor whom awareness is without tendencies
सः जीवत्-मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvat-muktaḥ ucyatethat one is called liberated while living
Translation
"Who wakes while abiding in deep sleep, for whom waking is not found, for whom awareness is without tendencies, — that one is called liberated while living."
Version
9869a50607a9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third mark is expressed by a deliberate contradiction: he wakes in sleep and does not wake in waking. This phrasing is beloved in these books and goes back to the Gita: ya nisha sarva-bhutanam tasyam jagarti samyami; yasyam jagrati bhutani sa nisha pashyato muneh — "what is night for all beings, in that the self-controlled one wakes; what beings wake to, that is night for the seeing silent sage" (2.69). Worth noting is that the Gita's verse is more precise than the one here.
There it speaks of night and waking with respect to objects: people are awake to what is indifferent to the sage, and the reverse. Here the same is expressed through deep sleep, that is, through a state without content; and hence it comes out darker. Let us add what the Vaishnava side stresses in the Gita's verse, and which deserves holding onto.
There it is not said "does not wake at all," but "to what beings wake"; that is, the change occurs not in the capacity to wake, but in the object of waking. The person has not become sleepy: he has awoken to something else. And hence its attained ones are described as exceedingly wakeful: they rise before dawn and are awake when everyone else sleeps; and the custom of brahma-muhurta, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (1.4), is the literal fulfillment of this verse.