उपनिषद् · Mahā 3.27
॥
देवनागरी
नास्ति देहसमः शोच्यो नीचो गुणविवर्जितः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
nāsti dehasamaḥ śocyo nīco guṇavivarjitaḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
न अस्ति देह-समः शोच्यःna asti deha-samaḥ śocyaḥthere is nothing so pitiable as the body; nothing exists as worthy of lament as the body
नीचः गुण-विवर्जितःnīcaḥ guṇa-vivarjitaḥlow, devoid of virtues; base, destitute of excellences
अनुवाद
“There is nothing more pitiable than the body — low and devoid of virtues.”
संस्करण
bd299aa3fa7f · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 6:29:20 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
With this half-verse begins a long series of verses on the body, and it is worth stating at once how to read them.
Before us is not a doctrine that the body is evil. Before us is an exercise: a youth who has resolved not to build his life around the bodily takes apart aloud what it consists of and how it ends.
The word śocya — “worthy of pity, of lament” — is the key here. The body is not called an enemy; it is called pitiable.
The difference is substantial. Toward an enemy one nurses hatred; toward the pitiable — compassion and sobriety.
The Vaiṣṇava tradition adds to this what is not and cannot be in Nidāgha's speech: a body given over to service ceases to be pitiable, because it ceases to be one's own. But that turn is still far off for the book — and further still for Nidāgha.