Upanishads · Varāha 5.6
॥
Devanāgarī
इत्थंभूतं क्षयान्नित्यं जीवितं भूतधारणम् । उड्ड्याणं कुरुते यस्मादविश्रान्तं महाखगः
Transliteration (IAST)
itthaṃbhūtaṃ kṣayānnityaṃ jīvitaṃ bhūtadhāraṇam | uḍḍyāṇaṃ kurute yasmādaviśrāntaṃ mahākhagaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
इत्थं-भूतं क्षयात् नित्यंitthaṃ-bhūtaṃ kṣayāt nityaṃthus, by constant diminishing
जीवितं भूत-धारणम्jīvitaṃ bhūta-dhāraṇamlife is the holding of the elements
उड्ड्याणं कुरुते यस्मात्uḍḍyāṇaṃ kurute yasmātsince it makes an ascent
अ-विश्रान्तं महा-खगःa-viśrāntaṃ mahā-khagaḥunresting, the great bird
Translation
"[The body is] thus, by constant diminishing; life is the holding of the elements. Since the great bird, unresting, makes an ascent…"
Version
a0bda1198e94 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is the definition: jivitam bhuta-dharanam, "life is the holding of the elements." This definition is good and, in my view, precise on its own level: the living differs from the non-living in that it holds its composition against decay. Everything living constantly repairs itself; once it stops repairing, it decays.
And further it speaks of the maha-khaga, "great bird," that continually performs uddiyana, "ascent." This bird is breath; and the word uddiyana is taken here in two senses at once — "ascent" and the name of a technique the next verse will speak of. Let us add that the image of breath as a bird is constant and fine in these books.
Breath truly does behave like a bird: it rises and falls, cannot be caught by hand, but can be lured by stillness. There is another image of the soul as a bird in these same books, worth recalling, for it is the most important: two birds on one tree, discussed when reading the Mundaka (3.1.1) and the Shvetashvatara (4.6). One pecks at the fruit, the other looks on without pecking.
The Vaishnava reading was cited there too: the birds are two, and the verse does not blend them one hairsbreadth; and its whole philosophy is, in substance, the unfolding of this one image.