Upaniṣads · Mahā 5.132
॥
Devanāgarī
क्वचिद्बन्ध इति ख्यातं क्वचित्पुर्यष्टकं स्मृतम् प्रोक्तं क्वचिदविद्येति क्वचिदिच्छेति संमतम्
Transliteración (IAST)
kvacidbandha iti khyātaṃ kvacitpuryaṣṭakaṃ smṛtam proktaṃ kvacidavidyeti kvacidiccheti saṃmatam
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
क्वचित् बन्धः इति ख्यातम्kvacit bandhaḥ iti khyātamsomewhere it is renowned as “bondage”; in one place it is famed as “the fetters”
क्वचित् पुर्यष्टकम् स्मृतम्kvacit puryaṣṭakam smṛtamsomewhere remembered as the “eightfold city”; in one place recorded as the “city of eight”
प्रोक्तम् क्वचित् अविद्या इतिproktam kvacit avidyā itisomewhere it is declared “ignorance”; in one place it is pronounced “unknowing”
क्वचित् इच्छा इति सम्मतम्kvacit icchā iti sammatamsomewhere it is agreed to be “desire”; in one place it is accepted as “wanting”
Traducción
“Somewhere it is renowned as ‘bondage’, somewhere remembered as the ‘eightfold city’, somewhere declared ‘ignorance’, somewhere agreed to be ‘desire’.”
Versión
b0ce5e3ee41a · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The end of the list, and in it a word that needs explaining: puryaṣṭaka — “the eightfold city”.
So the yogic books call the subtle body, consisting of eight: the five subtle elements, mind, reason and selfhood. It is that “city” in which the jīva migrates from birth to birth.
The other three are familiar: bondage, ignorance, desire.
The last — icchā — is the very thing named in 4.115 the essence of ignorance.
Note that the list ends precisely with it. Of the eighteen names the last is the simplest and homeliest: wanting.
All the learned words — prakṛti, māyā, the eightfold city — converge upon it.
And this is the sum of the whole enumeration: call it what you will, the talk is of our wanting something.