उपनिषद् · Kaṭha 3.15
॥
देवनागरी
अशब्दम् अस्पर्शम् अरूपम् अव्ययं तथारसं नित्यम् अगन्धवच् च यत् ।
अनाद्य् अनन्तं महतः परं ध्रुवं निचाय्य तन् मृत्युमुखात् प्रमुच्यते
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
aśabdam asparśam arūpam avyayaṃ tathārasaṃ nityam agandhavac ca yat /
anādy anantaṃ mahataḥ paraṃ dhruvaṃ nicāyya tan mṛtyumukhāt pramucyate
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अशब्दम्aśabdamsoundless (a-śabda); beyond sound; inaudible
अस्पर्शम्asparśamuntouchable (a-sparśa); beyond touch; impalpable
अरूपम्arūpamformless (a-rūpa — 'without [material] form'); beyond visible shape; unseen
अव्ययम्avyayamundiminishing (a-vyaya); inexhaustible; never spent
तथाtathāalso; likewise
अरसम्arasamtasteless (a-rasa — 'beyond taste'); having no flavour; not to be tasted
नित्यम्nityameternal; constant
अगन्धवत्agandhavatwithout smell (a-gandha-vat); beyond the smellable; neither fragrant nor foul
चcaand; as well as
यत्yatthat which; what
अनादिanādibeginningless; having no beginning
अनन्तम्anantamendless; having no end
महतःmahataḥhigher than the great; beyond the mahat
परम्paramthe highest; surpassing
ध्रुवम्dhruvamimmovable (dhruva); unshakable; constant
निचाय्यnicāyyahaving discerned (ni-√ci — 'to ascertain'); having beheld; having made sure
तत्tatthat; it
मृत्युमुखात्mṛtyumukhātfrom the jaws of death; from the face of death
प्रमुच्यतेpramucyateis freed (pra-√muc); is set free; is delivered
अनुवाद
Soundless, untouchable, formless, undiminishing, tasteless, eternal, without smell, beginningless, endless, higher than the great, immovable — having discerned That, men are freed from the jaws of death.
संस्करण
e3affca283c5 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 9:13:03 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
A verse of cleansing: eleven definitions, and the first seven are negations, by the number of the gates of perception. aśabdam asparśam arūpam arasam agandhavat — without sound, touch, form, taste, smell: all five channels by which the senses drag in the world are declared to have no part in Him; avyayam — undiminishing (not spent, as everything tasted is spent), nityam — eternal, anādy anantam — without beginning or end, mahataḥ param — higher than the great (the same words as in the ladder of 64–65), dhruvam — immovable.
These negations are not a description of a void but a cleaning of the instrument: they forbid the mind to slip sensory casts in place of God. He who is higher than the unmanifest (verse 65 has already said: the Puruṣa) has no material sound or shape — yet the Upaniṣad has ascribed to Him vision, dominion and an abode: what is taken away is the created, not the living. The Śvetāśvatara (3.19) keeps the balance exactly: "footless, He is swift; eyeless, He sees".
nicāyya tan mṛtyu-mukhāt pramucyate — "having discerned That, men are freed from the jaws of death": mṛtyu-mukha is that very "jaws of death" out of which Yama released Naciketas to his father (verse 11). Then it was a gracious teacher who led him out of the jaws — now what leads out of them for good is named: the recognition of the Immovable. The ring of the vallī is closed: death herself has taught how to get out of her mouth.