चित्तमेवाप्येति यश्चित्तमेवास्तमेति चेतयितव्यमेवाप्येति यश्चेतयितव्यमेवास्तमेति क्षेत्रज्ञमेवाप्येति यः क्षेत्रज्ञमेवास्तमेति भास्वतीमेवाप्येति यो भास्वतीमेवास्तमेति नागमेवाप्येति यो नागमेवास्तमेति विज्ञानमेवाप्येति यो विज्ञानमेवास्तमेत्यानन्दमेवाप्येति य आनन्दमेवास्तमेति तुरीयमेवाप्येति यस्तुरीयमेवास्तमेति तदमृतमभयमशोकमनन्तं निर्बीजमेवाप्येति तदमृतमभयमशोकमनन्तनिर्बीजमेवाप्येतीति होवाच
cittamevāpyeti yaścittamevāstameti cetayitavyamevāpyeti yaścetayitavyamevāstameti kṣetrajñamevāpyeti yaḥ kṣetrajñamevāstameti bhāsvatīmevāpyeti yo bhāsvatīmevāstameti nāgamevāpyeti yo nāgamevāstameti vijñānamevāpyeti yo vijñānamevāstametyānandamevāpyeti ya ānandamevāstameti turīyamevāpyeti yasturīyamevāstameti tadamṛtamabhayamaśokamanantaṃ nirbījamevāpyeti tadamṛtamabhayamaśokamanantanirbījamevāpyetīti hovāca
Into consciousness enters that which sets in consciousness; into the cognised enters that which sets in the cognised; into the knower of the field enters that which sets in him; into Bhāsvatī enters that which sets in Bhāsvatī; into nāga enters that which sets in nāga; into knowledge enters that which sets in knowledge; into bliss enters that which sets in bliss; into the fourth enters that which sets in the fourth; and into that immortal, fearless, sorrowless, endless, seedless — into it it enters; into that immortal, fearless, sorrowless, endlessly-seedless — into it it enters. So he said.
7bfe515be43c · publicado 29 jul 2026, 4:12:03 UTC
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The fourteenth and last step, and it restores the ladder's fullness: as in the first mantra, here are named knowledge, and bliss, and “the fourth”.
Thereby the khaṇḍa is closed in a ring. They began with the eye and passed the whole ladder to the seedless; they end with consciousness and pass it again. The twelve middle rows went the short way, and the two outermost — the full one.
The channel's name is Bhāsvatī, “the shining one”; the breath's name is nāga, “serpent”. In the śāstras nāga is one of the five auxiliary breaths, the one by which one belches. The joining of the shining and the serpent on the last step has come out unintentionally expressive.
More important is the structure of the ladder itself. Consciousness sets into the cognised, the cognised into the knower of the field, he into the channel, the channel into the breath, the breath into knowledge, knowledge into bliss, bliss into turīya, turīya into the seedless.
Note that “the knower of the field”, kṣetrajña — the soul itself — stands here not at the end but in the middle: it too sets. And knowledge, and bliss, and “the fourth” — likewise. Everything the Upaniṣads call highest is set as steps.
And the last — nirbīja, the seedless — is repeated twice, and this doubling is the sign of completion. There is nothing left to set: where there is no seed, there is no next rising.