एतदुपनिषदं योऽधीते सोऽग्निपूतो भवति । स वायुपूतो भवति । सुरापानात्पूतो भवति । स्वर्णस्तेयात्पूतो भवति । स जीवन्मुक्तो भवति । तदेतदृचाभ्युक्तम् । तद्विष्णोः परमं पदं सदा पश्यन्ति सूरयः । दिवीव चक्षुराततम् । तद्विप्रासो विपन्यवो जागृवांसः समिन्धते । विष्णोर्यत्परमं पदमित्युपनिषत्
etadupaniṣadaṃ yo'dhīte so'gnipūto bhavati | sa vāyupūto bhavati | surāpānātpūto bhavati | svarṇasteyātpūto bhavati | sa jīvanmukto bhavati | tadetadṛcābhyuktam | tadviṣṇoḥ paramaṃ padaṃ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ | divīva cakṣurātatam | tadviprāso vipanyavo jāgṛvāṃsaḥ samindhate | viṣṇoryatparamaṃ padamityupaniṣat
"One who studies this Upanishad becomes purified by fire, becomes purified by wind; is purified from the drinking of liquor, is purified from the theft of gold; becomes liberated while living. And of this it is said: 'That supreme abode of Vishnu the wise ever see, as an eye stretched across the sky; that the inspired, the exultant, the wakeful, kindle — that which is the supreme abode of Vishnu.' Such is the Upanishad."
376c53073986 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The book ends, and ends on a verse of the Rig-veda (1.22.20) — the very one discussed when reading the fourth chapter (4.41). Worth noting what exactly the book ends with, having opened with Ribhu's question to the Boar: the name of Vishnu, and moreover twice within two lines. That is, a composition that has taken into itself non-dual lists of negations, Shaiva formulas, the Tantric teaching of power, and hatha-yogic craft returns, on its last word, to the one whose name it bears.
Before the verse stands a list of purifications, and this must be spoken of directly. It is said that the reader is purified sura-panat, "from the drinking of liquor," and svarna-steyat, "from the theft of gold." Both these deeds are counted among the maha-pataka, "the great sins," alongside the killing of a brahmin and the defiling of a teacher's bed; and here it is promised that reading the book purifies from them.
This promise deserves examination, for it is dangerous. Taken literally and in advance, it becomes a license: read it, and it is permitted. The Vaishnava side holds a rule on this account worth citing in full, for it is the best defense against such a reading.
The Bhagavatam (6.2.10), having told of Ajamila, adds the qualification: namno balad yasya hi papa-buddhih, "one whose sinful intent rests on the strength of the name" — for him there is no purification, though he perform austerities. That is, purification holds for one who fell and came to himself, and does not hold for one who calculated in advance. Let us add what deserves saying of the closing verse itself, for it is fitting to end with it.
Tad vishnoh paramam padam sada pashyanti surayah, "that supreme abode of Vishnu the wise ever see." Worth noting the word sada, "always": not "attain once," but see continually. And second: divi va chakshur atatam, "as an eye stretched across the sky."
This image is deliberately ambiguous in the language: one may read "they see it, as an eye sees the stretched sky," or one may read "it is itself the eye, stretched across the sky." The Vaishnava side holds the second reading and explains it thus: the highest is not a place looked at, but the one who looks; and hence it is not seen as an object, but met as a gaze is met. The last line states: tad viprasah vipanyavo jagrivamsah samindhate, "that the inspired, the exultant, the wakeful, kindle."
Worth noting the three words by which the seers are named. Vipra means "trembling, inspired"; vipanyavu — "exultant, praising," from pan, "to praise"; jagrivamsah — "the wakeful." That is, the last word of this book about those who see does not say "the motionless," not "the stilled," not "the indifferent" — but the trembling, the praising, and the wakeful.
And this is, in my view, the best way it could have ended: five chapters taught the stopping of breath, the extinguishing of differentiation, and standing "neither alive nor dead" — and the last verse, taken from the most ancient Veda, depicts the attained as singing and unsleeping.