सः वा एषः महान् अजः आत्मा यः अयं विज्ञानमयः प्राणेषु यः एषः अन्तर् हृदये आकाशः तस्मिन् छेते सर्वस्य वशी सर्वस्येशानः सर्वस्याधिपतिः सः न साधुना कर्मणा भूयान् नो एव असाधुना कनीयान् एषः सर्वेश्वरः एषः भूताधिपतिः एषः भूतपालः एषः सेतुः विधरणः एषां लोकानाम् असंभेदाय तम् एतम् वेदानुवचनेन ब्राह्मणाः विविदिषन्ति यज्ञेन दानेन तपसानाशकेन एतम् एव विदित्वा मुनिः भवति एतम् एव प्रव्राजिनः लोकम् इच्छन्तः प्रव्रजन्ति
saḥ vā eṣaḥ mahān ajaḥ ātmā yaḥ ayaṃ vijñānamayaḥ prāṇeṣu yaḥ eṣaḥ antar hṛdaye ākāśaḥ tasmin chete sarvasya vaśī sarvasyeśānaḥ sarvasyādhipatiḥ saḥ na sādhunā karmaṇā bhūyān no eva asādhunā kanīyān eṣaḥ sarveśvaraḥ eṣaḥ bhūtādhipatiḥ eṣaḥ bhūtapālaḥ eṣaḥ setuḥ vidharaṇaḥ eṣāṃ lokānām asaṃbhedāya tam etam vedānuvacanena brāhmaṇāḥ vividiṣanti yajñena dānena tapasānāśakena etam eva viditvā muniḥ bhavati etam eva pravrājinaḥ lokam icchantaḥ pravrajanti
This great unborn ātman — the one made of consciousness among the breaths, the one that rests in the space within the heart — is the controller of all, the lord of all, the ruler of all: he does not grow by good work nor become less by bad. He is the lord of all, the ruler of beings, the guardian of beings; he is the bridge that holds these worlds apart lest they merge. Him the brāhmaṇas seek to know by the study of the Vedas, by sacrifice, by giving, by austerity, by fasting; having known him, they become silent sages; seeking him, wanderers leave their homes. Therefore the ancients did not desire offspring: "What is offspring to us — ours is the ātman, ours the world [attained]"; rising above the desire for sons, the desire for wealth and the desire for worlds, they lived the life of mendicants… He is "not so, not so": ungraspable, for he is not grasped; indestructible, for he is not destroyed; unattached, for he does not cling; unbound, he does not waver and takes no harm. The knower is not overcome by "I have done evil" nor by "I have done good": he passes beyond both; what has been done and what has been left undone do not burn him.
281c261325ad · प्रकाशित 27 जुल॰ 2026, 1:17:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The closing word of the instruction — and the Upaniṣad gathers into one verse all it is rich in. The great unborn ātman (sa vā eṣa mahān aja ātmā) is recognised at the familiar address — "made of consciousness among the breaths, in the space of the heart" (4.3.7) — and is crowned three times: sarvasya vaśī, sarvasyeśānaḥ, sarvasyādhipatiḥ — controller, lord, ruler of all! The apophasis flows into sovereignty, as in Gārgī's teaching (3.8.9): "not so, not so" — and a King.
He "does not grow by good works nor lessen by bad" — not because good and evil are indifferent but because He is their measure and not their defendant; He is setu, "the bridge-dyke that keeps the worlds from merging" (4.4.22 = ChU 8.4.1): the Order of orders itself. All the roads of religion lead to Him — Vedas, sacrifice, gift, austerity, fasting — and at Him they end: "having known him, they become silent sages"; for His sake homes and offspring are left: "what is offspring to us — ours is the ātman, ours the world!" (the great rising above the three desires, familiar from Kahola, 3.5.1).
And the resolution about guilt: the knower is "not burned" either by "I have done evil" or by "I have done good" — ubhe u haivaiṣa ete tarati — "he crosses beyond them both". Not impunity but a healing from self-judgment: one who has come to the Lord of good and evil is no longer tortured by the mirror of his own deeds; and his good is done henceforth not to justify himself but out of fullness. This is the last freedom of the instruction — freedom from one's own verdict.