Upaniṣads · Mahā 4.130
॥
Devanāgarī
कस्तवायं जडो मूको देहो मांसमयोऽशुचिः यदर्थं सुखदुःखाभ्यामवशः परिभूयसे
Transliteración (IAST)
kastavāyaṃ jaḍo mūko deho māṃsamayo'śuciḥ yadarthaṃ sukhaduḥkhābhyāmavaśaḥ paribhūyase
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
कः तव अयम् जडः मूकःkaḥ tava ayam jaḍaḥ mūkaḥwhat to thee is this inert, dumb; what is to thee this torpid, speechless
देहः मांस-मयः अशुचिःdehaḥ māṃsa-mayaḥ aśuciḥbody, made of flesh, unclean; frame, consisting of meat, impure
यत्-अर्थम् सुख-दुःखाभ्याम्yat-artham sukha-duḥkhābhyāmfor whose sake by pleasure and pain; on account of which by happiness and suffering
अवशः परिभूयसेavaśaḥ paribhūyasethou, helpless, art pushed about; thou, powerless, art humiliated
Traducción
“What is to thee this inert, dumb, fleshly, unclean body, for whose sake thou, helpless, art pushed about by pleasure and pain?”
Versión
e88affd8a95a · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
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An argument from absurdity, and it is put as a question.
The body is described in four words: jaḍa — “inert, insentient”, mūka — “dumb”, māṃsa-maya — “fleshly”, aśuci — “unclean”.
It does not speak, does not feel of itself and has no understanding of its own. And for its sake a man endures the rocking between happiness and sorrow.
The word avaśa — “helpless, not in possession of oneself”, the very one by which in 3.34 the man possessed by lust was described.
Paribhūyase — “thou art pushed about, humiliated”. Not “thou sufferest”, but precisely humiliated: pleasure and pain treat the man like a servant.
Note that the argument here is not about the body's uncleanness — that was already in the third chapter. The argument is in the disproportion: the master serves the dumb.