उपनिषद् · 1.17
॥
देवनागरी
वायुर् अनिलम् अमृतम् अथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम् ।
ओं क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
vāyur anilam amṛtam athedaṃ bhasmāntaṃ śarīram |
oṃ krato smara kṛtaṃ smara krato smara kṛtaṃ smara
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
वायुःvāyuḥthe vital breath; the prāṇa; the air of life
अनिलम्anilaminto the (universal) wind; into the all-pervading breath; into the air
अमृतम्amṛtamimmortal; imperishable; eternal
अथathanow; then; after this
इदम्idamthis; this here; this very thing
भस्मान्तम्bhasmāntamending in ashes (bhasma-anta — 'ash-ending'); turning to ashes; whose end is ash
शरीरम्śarīrambody; material body; covering
ओंoṃoṁ; the sacred syllable; the sign of the Absolute
क्रतोkratoO will (kratu — sacrificial intent, the power of resolve); O purpose of sacrifice; O aspiration
स्मरsmararemember (from √smṛ — 'to remember'); recall; keep in mind
कृतम्kṛtamwhat has been done; what was accomplished; the deeds performed
स्मरsmararemember (from √smṛ — 'to remember'); recall; keep in mind
क्रतोkratoO will (kratu — sacrificial intent, the power of resolve); O purpose of sacrifice; O aspiration
स्मरsmararemember (from √smṛ — 'to remember'); recall; keep in mind
कृतम्kṛtamwhat has been done; what was accomplished; the deeds performed
स्मरsmararemember (from √smṛ — 'to remember'); recall; keep in mind
अनुवाद
Let the breath now merge into the immortal wind, and let this body end in ashes. Oṁ! Remember, O will, remember what has been done; O will, remember, remember what has been done!
संस्करण
4bed5702f794 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 7:17:19 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The prayer of the hour of death. vāyur anilam amṛtam — "let the breath [merge] into the immortal wind": the vital air, borrowed for a time from the universal breath, returns to it; athedaṁ bhasmāntaṁ śarīram — "and this body — into ashes, that is its end" (bhasma-anta, literally "that whose end is ash"). The Upaniṣad says this without a shudder: the body was taken from the elements and to the elements it is given back; everything about it was said already in the third and the fourteenth mantras. But at the very moment of dissolution there sounds what is not subject to dissolution: oṁ — the syllable-name of the Absolute — and the thrice-repeated call: krato smara kṛtaṁ smara — "O will, remember! remember what has been done!"
kratu is the sacrificial will, the power of intention that all through life gathered one's deeds into service. It is to that, and not to the failing body, that the last word is addressed: remember. Remember Him to whom the deeds were offered, and the deeds themselves — not as a tally of merits, but as a thread leading to Him. The consciousness with which a being leaves the body determines its course; the Bhagavad-gītā (8.6) states this law outright: yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram / taṁ tam evaiti — "whatever state of being one remembers when he gives up the body at the end, that state he attains".
Hence the whole of life, according to this Upaniṣad, is a schooling of memory. For one who has acted a hundred years in the spirit of the second mantra there will be no need to squeeze out pious thoughts in the final hour: memory itself, along the deep groove of service, will run to its Lord. Death takes unawares only the man who has not lived by anything worth remembering.