Upaniṣads · Mahā 5.177
॥
Devanāgarī
न त्यजन्ति न वाञ्छन्ति व्यवहारं जगद्गतम् सर्वमेवानुवर्तन्ते पारावारविदो जनाः
Transliteración (IAST)
na tyajanti na vāñchanti vyavahāraṃ jagadgatam sarvamevānuvartante pārāvāravido janāḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
न त्यजन्ति न वाञ्छन्तिna tyajanti na vāñchantithey neither abandon nor crave; they neither renounce nor covet
व्यवहारम् जगत्-गतम्vyavahāram jagat-gatamthe usage current in the world; the custom that runs in the world
सर्वम् एव अनुवर्तन्तेsarvam eva anuvartantethey follow everything as it is; they conform to it all
पार-अवार-विदः जनाःpāra-avāra-vidaḥ janāḥthe people who know both shore and deep; the folk who know the far bank and the near
Traducción
“They neither abandon nor crave the usage current in the world, but follow it all — the people who know both shore and deep.”
Versión
b0751e8afbd1 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The verse completes 5.172 as applied to life among people.
Not to grasp and not to let go — in practice this means: to live like everyone.
Sarvam eva anuvartante — “they follow it all”. The customs, the order, the arrangements.
This repeats 5.38: they perform the observance come down from the former order.
Note the expression pāra-avāra-vid — “knowing both that bank and this”. The word pāra means “the far shore”, avāra — “the near”.
They know both. Hence they do not dart about.
The Vaiṣṇava tradition prizes this verse as the description of one indistinguishable from outside. His exterior is ordinary; what is unusual is that within it there is neither clutching nor rejection.