Upaniṣads · Mahā 2.63
॥
Devanāgarī
जीवन्मुक्तपदं त्यक्त्वा स्वदेहे कालसात्कृते विशत्यदेहमुक्तत्वं पवनोऽस्पन्दतामिव
Transliteración (IAST)
jīvanmuktapadaṃ tyaktvā svadehe kālasātkṛte viśatyadehamuktatvaṃ pavano'spandatāmiva
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
जीवन्मुक्त-पदम् त्यक्त्वाjīvanmukta-padam tyaktvāhaving left the station of one liberated while living; having quitted the state of the free-while-alive
स्व-देहे कालसात्-कृतेsva-dehe kālasāt-kṛtewhen his own body is given over to time; upon the surrender of his body to time
विशति अदेह-मुक्तत्वम्viśati adeha-muktatvamhe enters bodiless liberation; he steps into freedom without a body
पवनः अस्पन्दताम् इवpavanaḥ aspandatām ivaas the wind — into stillness; even as wind enters windlessness
Traducción
“Leaving the station of one liberated while living, when his body is given over to time, he enters bodiless liberation — as the wind enters stillness.”
Versión
b79141784e87 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The train of marks is done, and Janaka passes to what comes after.
Liberation while living is not the last stage but the last but one. When the body is “given over to time” (kālasāt-kṛta — an exact and tranquil expression for death), there comes videha-mukti, freedom without a body.
The image chosen is remarkable: the wind enters stillness.
Consider what this means. Wind is the movement of air; when the movement subsides, there is no wind — but the air has gone nowhere. Nothing is destroyed; the agitation has ceased.
So here. It is not the man that vanishes; what ceases is that which made him a separate gust.
The Vaiṣṇava reading at this point raises the question the following verses will leave unanswered: the air, after all, remains. The next six verses will describe this state in unbroken negations; the name is uttered in this book only once — at its very opening (1.1).