उपनिषद् · Śvetāśvatara 6.20
॥
देवनागरी
यदा चर्मवद् आकाशं वेष्टयिष्यन्ति मानवाः ।
तदा देवम् अविज्ञाय दुःखस्यान्तो भविष्यति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
yadā carmavad ākāśaṃ veṣṭayiṣyanti mānavāḥ /
tadā devam avijñāya duḥkhasyānto bhaviṣyati
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
यदाyadāwhen; at the hour when
चर्मवत्carmavatlike a hide; as if it were a skin
आकाशम्ākāśamspace; the sky, the ether
वेष्टयिष्यन्तिveṣṭayiṣyantithey shall roll up; they shall be able to roll
मानवाःmānavāḥmen; mortals
तदाtadāthen; only then
देवम् अविज्ञायdevam avijñāyawithout having known God; without knowledge of the Deity
दुःखस्य अन्तःduḥkhasya antaḥan end of suffering; a limit to grief
भविष्यतिbhaviṣyatiwill come; will there be
अनुवाद
When men are able to roll up space like a hide — then, even without knowing God, there will be an end of suffering.
संस्करण
edc2913202f6 · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:13:46 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The mantra is built as an impossible condition, and in that is all its force. A man cannot roll up the sky like a hide; therefore there will be no end of suffering without God either.
This is said at the very moment when the Upaniṣad has already spoken the words of refuge (6.18). The order is not accidental: first he took refuge, then it is said that there was no other way out.
The image chosen is exact and almost mocking. Rolling up a hide is a familiar household task; ākāśa, space, is what has neither edges nor thickness. The proposal to roll up the sky like a skin sounds like the proposal to lift oneself by one's own hair.
This answers a hope that is always alive in man: to manage by oneself — by knowledge, by the arrangement of life, by the accumulation of strength. The Upaniṣad denies neither knowledge nor strength: it devoted a whole adhyāya to them. It denies only that by them an end of suffering is reached.
And note that it says "without having known God", devam avijñāya — that same word deva, not "the truth", not "Brahman" in an abstract sense. The end of suffering is set by a meeting.