उपनिषद् · Mantrikā 17
॥
देवनागरी
यस्मिन्सर्वमिदं प्रोतं ब्रह्म स्थावरजङ्गमम् । तस्मिन्नेव लयं यान्ति स्रवन्त्यः सागरे यथा
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
yasminsarvamidaṃ protaṃ brahma sthāvarajaṅgamam | tasminneva layaṃ yānti sravantyaḥ sāgare yathā
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
यस्मिन् सर्वम् इदम् प्रोतम्yasmin sarvam idam protamin whom all this is woven; in whom this whole is threaded
ब्रह्म स्थावरजङ्गमम्brahma sthāvarajaṅgamamBrahman — the motionless and the moving; Brahman — the unmoving and the moving
तस्मिन् एव लयम् यान्तिtasmin eva layam yāntiin him alone they dissolve; into him they pass away
स्रवन्त्यः सागरे यथाsravantyaḥ sāgare yathāas rivers in the ocean; like streams into the sea
अनुवाद
In whom all this is woven, the motionless and the moving — in that same Brahman they dissolve, as rivers in the ocean.
संस्करण
a44349bbc76f · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:00:17 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The simile of rivers entering the sea is among the most frequent in the Upaniṣads and among the most disputed.
The Muṇḍaka says: “as flowing rivers vanish in the sea, leaving name and form, so the knower, freed from name and form, enters the divine Puruṣa”.
This is usually read as annihilation. But look closely at the image itself.
A river, entering the sea, is not destroyed: its water remains water. What is lost is the name — “Gaṅgā”, “Yamunā” — and the outline of the channel; the substance does not perish.
That is why the Vaiṣṇava Vedānta holds to this simile without fear. What dissolves is that by which the soul marked itself off from the rest: name, shape, the ledger of merits. What she is does not dissolve.
Note too the verse's first half: ota — “woven”. The image of the loom from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, where Yājñavalkya was asked on what all is woven, and led the questioner from world to world.
The next verse will continue in the same element but take another figure: bubbles on water.