Upaniṣads · Mahā 2.15
॥
Devanāgarī
संसाराडम्बरमिदं कथमभ्युत्थितं मुने कथं च प्रशमं याति किं यत्कस्य कदा वद
Transliteración (IAST)
saṃsārāḍambaramidaṃ kathamabhyutthitaṃ mune kathaṃ ca praśamaṃ yāti kiṃ yatkasya kadā vada
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
संसार-आडम्बरम् इदम्saṃsāra-āḍambaram idamthis pageant of saṁsāra; all this loud parade of the round
कथम् अभ्युत्थितम् मुनेkatham abhyutthitam munehow did it arise, O sage; whence did it spring, O silent one
कथम् च प्रशमम् यातिkatham ca praśamam yātiand how does it come to stillness; and how does it subside
किम् यत् कस्य कदा वदkim yat kasya kadā vadawhat, whose, when — say; what is it, whose and when — declare
Traducción
“Whence has all this pageant of the round arisen, O sage? And how does it come to stillness? What is it, whose, and when — tell me.”
Versión
3c05185a2e0c · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Śuka's question — and it will be repeated word for word to Janaka in verse 2.30. The repetition is deliberate: the question is one, and its answer a man will accept only from a second mouth.
The word āḍambara deserves unpacking. It means “noise, pomp, a loud undertaking” — what begins with a drum-roll. Saṁsāra is named not a torment and not fetters, but a pageant: much thunder, little substance.
The questions are in fact four: whence it arose, how it subsides, what it is, whose it is. And the fourth — kasya, “whose” — is the most uncomfortable. If the round is no one's, there is no one to call to account; if it is someone's, one will have to acknowledge a master.
The answer to it the book gave before any question — in the first adhyāya, where the name was spoken. Here the question stands open, and open it will remain to the end.