उपनिषद् · Mahā 3.5
॥
देवनागरी
अयःशलाकासदृशाः परस्परमसङ्गिनः शुष्यन्ते केवला भावा मनःकल्पनयानया
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
ayaḥśalākāsadṛśāḥ parasparamasaṅginaḥ śuṣyante kevalā bhāvā manaḥkalpanayānayā
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अयः-शलाका-सदृशाःayaḥ-śalākā-sadṛśāḥlike iron rods; just like iron spokes
परस्परम् असङ्गिनःparasparam asaṅginaḥunconnected with one another; not joined among themselves
शुष्यन्ते केवलाः भावाःśuṣyante kevalāḥ bhāvāḥthe solitary things dry up; things taken by themselves run dry
मनः-कल्पनया अनयाmanaḥ-kalpanayā anayāby this contrivance of the mind; by this very fancy of consciousness
अनुवाद
“Things taken by themselves are like iron rods unconnected with one another; they dry up from this very contrivance of the mind.”
संस्करण
0b11090fad25 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 6:29:20 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The image is strange and exact: iron rods lying side by side and unjoined.
Iron does not grow together of itself. The rods may lie close for centuries and remain separate.
So with things: nothing binds them to one another. The connection we see between them — “this is mine”, “this is for that”, “one leads to another” — is laid on by the mind. The word kalpanā, “contrivance”, is of the same root as the kalanā of the second chapter.
And what is said next is unexpected: from this contrivance things “dry up”.
The thought is this: while the mind holds a thing as separate, self-standing, serviceable in itself — the thing is empty and does not nourish. A separate thing is dead, like a separate rod.
Living conjunction does not come from the mind. It exists where everything belongs to the One — but this Nidāgha does not yet say.