उपनिषद् · Mahā 3.8
॥
देवनागरी
इयमस्मि स्थितोदारा संसारे परिपेलवा श्रीर्मुने परिमोहाय सापि नूनं न शर्मदा
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
iyamasmi sthitodārā saṃsāre paripelavā śrīrmune parimohāya sāpi nūnaṃ na śarmadā
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
इयम् अस्मि स्थिता उदाराiyam asmi sthitā udārāhere I stand, munificent; “behold me, the stately one”
संसारे परिपेलवाsaṃsāre paripelavāin the round, flimsy; in the whirl of things, unsteady
श्रीः मुने परिमोहायśrīḥ mune parimohāyafortune, O sage, is for beguilement; Śrī, O silent one, is for delusion
सा अपि नूनम् न शर्म-दाsā api nūnam na śarma-dāand even she, truly, gives no peace; and she too, surely, bestows no good
अनुवाद
“‘Here am I, the stately one’ — so stands fortune in the round, flimsy; she is for beguilement, O sage, and truly she gives no peace.”
संस्करण
63d8d2216965 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 6:29:20 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The speech is of Śrī — fortune, riches, prosperity.
The verse is built as a mimicry: fortune announces herself — “here am I, the stately one”. And then one word overturns the whole posture: paripelavā, “flimsy, swaying, like a little boat on the water”.
Stateliness and flimsiness together. She holds up only while you look.
It is worth saying plainly what is spoken of here and what is not. Śrī is also the name of the Supreme's consort, the eternal Lakṣmī. Here the speech is not of Her, but of worldly fortune, which bears the same name as a shadow bears the name of its object.
This distinction is constant in Vaiṣṇava letters: wealth taken as one's own beguiles; the same wealth, acknowledged as belonging to Him, does not beguile at all.