Upanishads · Varāha 4.27
॥
Devanāgarī
यः समस्तार्थजालेषु व्यवहार्यपि शीतलः । परार्थेष्विव पूर्णात्मा स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
yaḥ samastārthajāleṣu vyavahāryapi śītalaḥ | parārtheṣviva pūrṇātmā sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यः समस्त-अर्थ-जालेषुyaḥ samasta-artha-jāleṣuwho, amid all the nets of objects
व्यवहारी अपि शीतलःvyavahārī api śītalaḥthough engaged in affairs, is cool
पर-अर्थेषु इव पूर्ण-आत्माpara-artheṣu iva pūrṇa-ātmāas if in another's affairs, full of himself
सः जीवत्-मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvat-muktaḥ ucyatethat one is called liberated while living
Translation
"Who, amid all the nets of objects, though engaged in affairs, is cool — as if in another's affairs, full of himself — that one is called liberated while living."
Version
437b74d99b12 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is the comparison parartheshv iva, "as if in another's affairs." The comparison is excellent and verifiable by anyone: in another's affair, a person is both attentive and calm. He does it well, for he has undertaken it; and he does not suffer, for the affair is not his own.
That is, a state familiar to everyone from experience is pointed to, and one is bidden to carry it over into one's own life. Let us add the word shitala, "cool," for it is precisely chosen. It is not said "cold" and not "indifferent," but cool: that is, without heat.
Heat, in these books, is a constant image of passion — tapa, "burning heat," discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.32). The Vaishnava side holds this comparison and states it through dasya, "service": a servant performs his master's task well and is not tormented, for it is not his. The only difference lies in a single word, and it stands right in the verse: purna-atma, "full of himself."
For it, instead of "full of himself" stands "full of Him"; and this difference matters, for it determines where the coolness comes from. If it comes from fullness of self, it is self-sufficiency, and easily turns into indifference. If it comes from the fact that the affair is another's, and moreover a master's, it is the calm of a servant who has a master — and it hinders neither diligence nor attachment.