Upaniṣads · Mahā 3.51
॥
Devanāgarī
परमेष्ठ्यपि निष्ठावान्हीयते हरिरप्यजः भावोऽप्यभावमायाति जीर्यन्ते वै दिगीश्वराः
Transliteración (IAST)
parameṣṭhyapi niṣṭhāvānhīyate harirapyajaḥ bhāvo'pyabhāvamāyāti jīryante vai digīśvarāḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
परमेष्ठी अपि निष्ठावान्parameṣṭhī api niṣṭhāvāneven Parameṣṭhin has his limit; even He who sits on high is subject to an end
हीयते हरिः अपि अजःhīyate hariḥ api ajaḥeven the unborn Hari diminishes; even Hari the birthless is lessened
भावः अपि अभावम् आयातिbhāvaḥ api abhāvam āyātieven being comes to non-being; even presence turns to absence
जीर्यन्ते वै दिक्-ईश्वराःjīryante vai dik-īśvarāḥthe lords of the quarters too grow decrepit; the rulers of the directions likewise wear out
Traducción
“Even Parameṣṭhin has an end, and the unborn Hari diminishes; being turns to non-being; the lords of the quarters grow decrepit.”
Versión
ebc2e441fd5a · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
A difficult verse, and it must be taken apart with caution, for in it the name Hari is uttered.
Parameṣṭhin — “he who sits in the highest place” — is a usual name of Brahmā. His term is vast but finite; in the tradition this is a commonplace.
But hariḥ api ajaḥ hīyate — “even the unborn Hari diminishes” — requires explanation, because the literal reading contradicts all the rest of scripture, including the sixth adhyāya of this very book, where Nārāyaṇa is called imperishable.
It should be read as such passages are read in the Bhāgavatam: the speech is of deities holding an office, not of the Supreme. The names Hari, Viṣṇu, Indra, Brahmā in these books are both proper names and the titles of posts which in different world-days are filled by different persons; it is of such an “Indra” or such a “Hari” that it is said he is replaced.
There is also a second, simpler reading: before us is the speech of a youth wrought up by renunciation, who piles up examples in a crescendo and talks himself into an extreme. The book reports his words without subscribing to each.
Either way, Vaiṣṇava Vedānta does not waver here: He of whom the sixth adhyāya says “Nārāyaṇa is eternal” does not fall under this list. Otherwise there would be no refuge either — the refuge to which the whole book leads.