Upaniṣads · Mahā 4.98
॥
Devanāgarī
न हि चञ्चलताहीनं मनः क्वचन दृश्यते चञ्चलत्वं मनोधर्मो वह्नेर्धर्मो यथोष्णता
Transliteración (IAST)
na hi cañcalatāhīnaṃ manaḥ kvacana dṛśyate cañcalatvaṃ manodharmo vahnerdharmo yathoṣṇatā
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
न हि चञ्चलता-हीनम्na hi cañcalatā-hīnamfor one deprived of restlessness; since a thing devoid of flickering
मनः क्वचन दृश्यतेmanaḥ kvacana dṛśyatea mind is nowhere seen; consciousness is nowhere observed
चञ्चलत्वम् मनः-धर्मःcañcalatvam manaḥ-dharmaḥrestlessness is the mind's property; flickering is the law of consciousness
वह्नेः धर्मः यथा उष्णताvahneḥ dharmaḥ yathā uṣṇatāas heat is the property of fire; just as burning is the law of fire
Traducción
“Nowhere is a mind seen that is free of restlessness: restlessness is the property of the mind, as heat is the property of fire.”
Versión
85c9c5b6a53a · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
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The verse seems an objection to all that precedes, but in fact explains it.
It is said: a mind without restlessness does not exist. Cañcalatva — “flickering, trembling” — is its property, as heat is fire's.
So the attempt to make the mind motionless is the same as the attempt to make fire cold. What remains will be not a calm mind but no mind at all.
This is the very ground for all that was said of the “death of the mind” in 4.93. The speech is not of training, but of the object vanishing together with its property.
Recall too the Bhagavad-gītā, where Arjuna says: the mind is unsteady and turbulent. Kṛṣṇa does not dispute this — He agrees that the mind is hard to hold, like the wind, and points to practice and dispassion.
The verse, then, removes a false hope. Not “I will quiet the mind and live in peace”, but something else; the next two verses will say what.