Upaniṣads · Avadhūta 12
॥
Devanāgarī
अनुतिष्ठन्तु कर्माणि परलोकयियासवः । सर्वलोकात्मकः कस्मादनुतिष्ठामि किं कथम्
Transliteración (IAST)
anutiṣṭhantu karmāṇi paralokayiyāsavaḥ | sarvalokātmakaḥ kasmādanutiṣṭhāmi kiṃ katham
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अनुतिष्ठन्तु कर्माणिanutiṣṭhantu karmāṇilet them perform deeds
पर-लोक-यियासवःpara-loka-yiyāsavaḥthose wishing to go to another world
सर्व-लोक-आत्मकः कस्मात्sarva-loka-ātmakaḥ kasmātI, whose nature is all the worlds — why
अनुतिष्ठामि किं कथंanutiṣṭhāmi kiṃ kathaṃwould I perform [anything], and what, and how
Traducción
Let those who wish to go to another world perform deeds; I, whose nature is all the worlds, why and what and how would I perform?
Versión
3edd87cf4ca9 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The argument is the same and built the same way: ritual is needed by one who wants to reach somewhere; but one who is already everywhere has nowhere to reach. Let us add that this argument is sound in its own way and is found in Vaiṣṇava books. The Gītā says: "as much use as there is in a well when water has spread everywhere, so much is there in all the Vedas for a brahmin who knows" (2.46).
But let us compare the two passages, and the difference will be seen at once. The Gītā speaks of usefulness: a well is not needed where there is a flood; and it adds not a word about those who go to the well. But here it says "let them perform" — pointing at others.
Let us add, too, what is absent from these lines and present in the Gītā. Having spoken of the well, Kṛṣṇa immediately commands Arjuna to do his work — and does so in the very next verse: "let your right be to action alone, never to its fruits" (2.47). That is, the uselessness of ritual for the knower does not abolish his duties.
This is why the Vaiṣṇava reading does not derive a license to inaction from fullness. The full one has no need — true; but the full one is also generous, and generosity is action. And the Gītā says of Himself: "there is nothing I need to attain, and yet I act" (3.22) — here is the model of fullness worth speaking of.