Upanishads · Varāha 4.29
॥
Devanāgarī
चैत्यवर्जितचिन्मात्रे पदे परमपावने । अक्षुब्धचित्तो विश्रान्तः स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
caityavarjitacinmātre pade paramapāvane | akṣubdhacitto viśrāntaḥ sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
चैत्य-वर्जित-चित्-मात्रेcaitya-varjita-cit-mātrein consciousness alone, free of what is to be consciously known
पदे परम-पावनेpade parama-pāvanein the highest purifying place
अ-क्षुब्ध-चित्तः विश्रान्तःa-kṣubdha-cittaḥ viśrāntaḥwith unagitated consciousness, at rest
सः जीवत्-मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvat-muktaḥ ucyatethat one is called liberated while living
Translation
"Who, with unagitated consciousness, is at rest in consciousness alone, free of what is to be consciously known, in the highest purifying place, — that one is called liberated while living."
Version
8bd1be590c9a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Worth noting is the word chaitya-varjita, "free of what is to be consciously known." Chaitya is that toward which consciousness is directed; and it is said that consciousness remains without an object. The Vaishnava objection to this is fundamental and has been raised more than once; let us repeat it in its briefest form, for it fits here.
Consciousness is directedness: to be conscious means to be conscious of something, as to see means to see something. Sight without anything visible is not pure sight, but darkness. So "consciousness without a conscious object" is either a figure of speech, or a description of a swoon.
Adherents of nondualist teaching answer this by saying the highest consciousness is not directedness, but svaprakasha, "self-luminosity"; and this answer has grounds, for a lamp truly does shine even when there is nothing to shine on. Let us add, however, what the Vaishnava side objects here, and which, in my view, settles the matter. A lamp with nothing to shine on does not stop being a lamp — that is, it remains a thing with a form and properties.
That is, the comparison with self-luminosity preserves the object: for something to shine of itself, it must be something. And hence even the most abstract definition does not escape what it defines; and if so, consciousness without a cloud is not the absence of form, but a form one has decided not to speak of.