तद् एषः श्लोकः भवति यदा सर्वे प्रमुच्यन्ते कामाः ये अस्य हृदि श्रिताः अथ मर्त्यः अमृतः भवति अत्र ब्रह्म समश्नुते इति तद् यथा अहिनिर्ल्वयनी वल्मीके मृता प्रत्यस्ता शयीत एवम् एव इदम् शरीरम् शेते अथ अयम् अशरीरः अमृतः प्राणः ब्रह्मैव तेज एव सः अहम् भगवते सहस्रम् ददामि इति ह उवाच जनकः वैदेहः
tad eṣaḥ ślokaḥ bhavati yadā sarve pramucyante kāmāḥ ye asya hṛdi śritāḥ atha martyaḥ amṛtaḥ bhavati atra brahma samaśnute iti tad yathā ahinirlvayanī valmīke mṛtā pratyastā śayīta evam eva idam śarīram śete atha ayam aśarīraḥ amṛtaḥ prāṇaḥ brahmaiva teja eva saḥ aham bhagavate sahasram dadāmi iti ha uvāca janakaḥ vaidehaḥ
On this there is a verse: "When all the desires that nest in the heart are let go, then a mortal becomes immortal: here he attains Brahman." As the sloughed skin of a snake lies on an ant-hill, dead, cast off, so lies this body. And this bodiless, immortal one is the breath, he is Brahman, he is light." — "I give a thousand to the reverend one," said Janaka of Videha; "speak on, for the sake of liberation!"
6e8ed1cfe078 · प्रकाशित 27 जुल॰ 2026, 1:15:25 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The crowning verse, which the Kaṭha Upaniṣad will repeat word for word (KaU 2.3.14): yadā sarve pramucyante kāmā ye 'sya hṛdi śritāḥ, atha martyo 'mṛto bhavaty atra brahma samaśnute — "when all the desires that nest in the heart are let go, a mortal becomes immortal: here he attains Brahman". Atra — "here"! — not beyond the grave: immortality is an event of this life, taking place in the moment of letting go.
And an image that closes the theme of the body: a snake's cast skin on an ant-hill — "dead, cast off". The skin is not the snake's corpse: the snake has gone away alive; so the knower's body is a slough, while he himself is "bodiless, immortal… Brahman, light". The death of a saint is a moulting.
Janaka answers royally for the fourth time: a thousand — and "on, for the sake of liberation". The listener is not sated: ahead are the verses about the path, narrow and ancient, and the last word about Him who is greater than all formulas.