उपनिषद् · Mantrikā 6
॥
देवनागरी
पिबन्त्येनामविषयामविज्ञातां कुमारकाः । एकस्तु पिबते देवः स्वच्छन्दोऽत्र वशानुगः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
pibantyenāmaviṣayāmavijñātāṃ kumārakāḥ | ekastu pibate devaḥ svacchando'tra vaśānugaḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
पिबन्ति एनाम् अविषयाम्pibanti enām aviṣayāmthey drink her, the imperceptible one; they imbibe her, ungraspable by the senses
अविज्ञाताम् कुमारकाःavijñātām kumārakāḥthe unknown one — the striplings; the unrecognised one — the youths
एकः तु पिबते देवःekaḥ tu pibate devaḥbut one drinks — God; while the one who drinks is the god
स्वच्छन्दः अत्र वशानुगःsvacchandaḥ atra vaśānugaḥself-willed here, obedient there; sovereign here, submissive there
अनुवाद
The striplings drink her, imperceptible and unknown; but one drinks — God, self-willed here, and obedient there.
संस्करण
1e54a83a9fed · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:00:17 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The second great passage of the book, and it is about the difference between the soul and the Lord.
Both drink the same one: pibanti enām — “they drink her”, the very cow of the previous verse.
But the drinkers differ. Kumārakāḥ — “striplings, little ones”; so the book calls the jīvas. And ekas tu pibate devaḥ — “but one drinks: God”.
The image is from the Muṇḍaka, where two birds sit on one tree: one pecks the fruit, the other looks on without eating. Here it is altered: both drink, but differently.
And the difference is named by two words set side by side: svacchandaḥ and vaśānugaḥ — “self-willed” and “going under another's will”.
This can be read in two ways, and both come to the same. Either: God is self-willed, and the striplings are subject. Or, as the commentator takes it: He is free, while they are under the power of the very thing they drink.
Here is the whole difference between jīva and Īśvara in half a line. They drink one thing; but one is the master of the draught, and the others are intoxicated by it.
Note the word aviṣayā — “not an object of the senses”. They drink what they do not see.