उपनिषद् · Śvetāśvatara 6.19
॥
देवनागरी
निष्कलं निष्क्रियं शान्तं निरवद्यं निरञ्जनम् ।
अमृतस्य परं सेतुं दग्धेन्धनम् इवानलम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
niṣkalaṃ niṣkriyaṃ śāntaṃ niravadyaṃ nirañjanam /
amṛtasya paraṃ setuṃ dagdhendhanam ivānalam
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
निष्कलम्niṣkalampartless; having no portions
निष्क्रियम्niṣkriyamactionless; not drawn into work
शान्तम्śāntamat peace; tranquil
निरवद्यम्niravadyamblameless; without fault
निरञ्जनम्nirañjanamunstained; untouched by the world's dye
अमृतस्यamṛtasyaof immortality; of imperishability
परम् सेतुम्param setumthe supreme bridge; the sovereign crossing
दग्धेन्धनम् इव अनलम्dagdhendhanam iva analamlike a fire whose fuel is burnt out; like a flame above spent wood
अनुवाद
The partless, actionless, peaceful, blameless, unstained — the supreme bridge to immortality, like a fire whose fuel is burnt out...
संस्करण
98471a88d6c2 · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:13:46 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The mantra continues the previous one: these are the same words of the one who takes refuge, only now he describes Him to whom he has come.
Five epithets in a row begin with a negation: without parts, without action, without agitation, without fault, without stain. All of them remove from Him what is proper to us: we are composite, involved, agitated, faulty, soiled.
The word niṣkriya, "actionless", does not contradict His creating and ruling: as at 1.9, it means that His work neither binds nor draws Him in.
Then comes the image for whose sake the mantra is remembered: "the supreme bridge to immortality". A bridge, setu, joins two banks and does not itself sink; and He is called not the builder of the bridge but the bridge itself. The same image sounded at 2.8, where one crossed over "in the boat of Brahman".
And the last comparison: "like a fire whose fuel is burnt out". A flame beneath which the wood has already burned through is an image of pure light without matter, of a fire that has nothing more to devour. So too He: in Him is nothing that needs feeding and nothing that could be spent.
The comparison has a second side, turned toward us: in one who has taken refuge in Him the fuel — karma — also burns out, as was said at 6.4.