Upanishads · Varāha 4.30
॥
Devanāgarī
इदं जगदहं सोऽयं दृश्यजातमवास्तवम् । यस्य चित्ते न स्फुरति स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
idaṃ jagadahaṃ so'yaṃ dṛśyajātamavāstavam | yasya citte na sphurati sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
इदं जगत् अहं सः अयंidaṃ jagat ahaṃ saḥ ayaṃ'this world,' 'I,' 'that,' 'this'
दृश्य-जातम् अ-वास्तवम्dṛśya-jātam a-vāstavamthe whole class of the visible, unreal
यस्य चित्ते न स्फुरतिyasya citte na sphuratifor whom, in consciousness, does not flash
सः जीवत्-मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvat-muktaḥ ucyatethat one is called liberated while living
Translation
"For whom, in consciousness, 'this world,' 'I,' 'that,' 'this' — the whole class of the visible, unreal — does not flash, that one is called liberated while living."
Version
b7a4cc5046fb · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of marks ends, and it deserves looking back on, for it is the finest thing in this chapter. Ten marks have been listed, and it is worth noting their composition. Seven of the ten are marks of conduct: lives amid affairs (4.21), even in happiness and suffering (4.22), does not disturb and is not disturbed (4.26), cool as in another's affair (4.27), does not appropriate (4.25).
Three are marks of a state: wakes in sleep (4.23), content in the Highest (4.28), objects do not flash in consciousness (4.30). The predominance of the first is, in my view, a merit of the list: it is verifiable. Let us add what deserves saying of the notion of jivan-mukti itself, for this is the place for it.
This notion draws an objection in Vaishnava teaching, and it deserves citing, for it is no small matter. It asks: freed from what? If from the cycle — he is still in a body, and the body will still end. If from suffering — this too is not complete, for the body falls ill.
If from delusion — this is knowledge, not liberation. Its own notion is different, called nitya-siddha or bhagavat-parikara: a person is not liberated, but accepted; and the difference lies in this — the first is the attainment of a state, the second a change of position. Hence its attained ones are not described as renunciates: they are described as occupied; and of the six Gosvamis, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.29).