Upaniṣads · Mahā 3.17
॥
Devanāgarī
अहंकारवशाद्यद्यन्मया भुक्तं चराचरम् तत्तत्सर्वमवस्त्वेव वस्त्वहंकाररिक्तता
Transliteración (IAST)
ahaṃkāravaśādyadyanmayā bhuktaṃ carācaram tattatsarvamavastveva vastvahaṃkārariktatā
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अहङ्कार-वशात् यत् यत्ahaṅkāra-vaśāt yat yatwhatever by the sway of selfhood; all that by the power of self-conceit
मया भुक्तम् चर-अचरम्mayā bhuktam cara-acaramwas enjoyed by me, moving and unmoving; was tasted by me of the moving and the unmoving
तत् तत् सर्वम् अवस्तु एवtat tat sarvam avastu evaall that is no substance at all; all of it precisely has no essence
वस्तु अहङ्कार-रिक्तताvastu ahaṅkāra-riktatāsubstance is the emptiness of selfhood; the essence is freedom from self-conceit
Traducción
“All that I have enjoyed by the sway of selfhood — both moving and unmoving — all of it is without substance; substance is the emptiness of selfhood.”
Versión
91eb3d90bbe2 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
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The verse builds an equation worth pausing over.
Everything taken through the “I” is avastu, “non-substance”, empty. And vastu, the substance, is defined not as a thing and not as a state, but as ahaṅkāra-riktatā — “emptiness of selfhood”, the absence in a man of the self-appointed “I”.
That is, the real is not where there are no things, but where there is no appropriator.
This is an important refinement to the speeches on the world's worthlessness, and it removes the chief misunderstanding. The world is empty not because it is the world, but because we take it through “mine”. Remove the appropriation — and things cease to be empty.
The Vaiṣṇava reading says out what in Nidāgha is only implied. Emptiness of selfhood is not emptiness as such: the appropriator's place does not stay vacant. The thing that has ceased to be mine turns out to be His.