Upaniṣads · Mahā 4.40
॥
Devanāgarī
नाकृतेन कृतेनार्थो न श्रुतिस्मृतिविभ्रमैः निर्मन्दर इवाम्बोधिः स तिष्ठति यथास्थितः
Transliteración (IAST)
nākṛtena kṛtenārtho na śrutismṛtivibhramaiḥ nirmandara ivāmbodhiḥ sa tiṣṭhati yathāsthitaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
न अकृतेन कृतेन अर्थःna akṛtena kṛtena arthaḥno need of the undone or the done; no profit from the unaccomplished or the accomplished
न श्रुति-स्मृति-विभ्रमैःna śruti-smṛti-vibhramaiḥnor of the whirling of śruti and smṛti; nor from wanderings through revelation and tradition
निर्मन्दरः इव अम्बोधिःnirmandaraḥ iva ambodhiḥlike the ocean without mount Mandara; just as the sea from which Mandara is removed
सः तिष्ठति यथा-स्थितःsaḥ tiṣṭhati yathā-sthitaḥhe abides as he is; he remains in the state in which he is
Traducción
“…he has no need of the done or the undone, nor of the whirling through revelation and tradition: he abides as he is — like the ocean from which mount Mandara has been taken out.”
Versión
bb4533629e07 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The completion of the preceding thought, and in it an image that needs explaining.
Mandara is the mountain with which the gods and asuras churned the ocean, extracting the nectar. The ocean meanwhile boiled, grew turbid and threw up now poison, now treasures.
Nirmandara ambodhi — “the ocean without Mandara”: the same sea, but the churning-stick has been taken out of it. It has not become different; it has ceased to be churned.
Here is the exact image of the man in question. He is churned neither by deeds, nor by the unfinished, nor by books.
The word vibhrama — “whirling, darting about” — is said of śruti and smṛti. Not that the scriptures are bad, but the darting between them: this text commands one thing, that one another, and the man is tossed.
Note also what stands in 4.4: the scriptures are named the means of growing insight. Here the speech is of one who has already grown it. A means that has reached its goal is released.