उपनिषद् · Mahā 4.130
॥
देवनागरी
कस्तवायं जडो मूको देहो मांसमयोऽशुचिः यदर्थं सुखदुःखाभ्यामवशः परिभूयसे
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
kastavāyaṃ jaḍo mūko deho māṃsamayo'śuciḥ yadarthaṃ sukhaduḥkhābhyāmavaśaḥ paribhūyase
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
कः तव अयम् जडः मूकःkaḥ tava ayam jaḍaḥ mūkaḥwhat to thee is this inert, dumb; what is to thee this torpid, speechless
देहः मांस-मयः अशुचिःdehaḥ māṃsa-mayaḥ aśuciḥbody, made of flesh, unclean; frame, consisting of meat, impure
यत्-अर्थम् सुख-दुःखाभ्याम्yat-artham sukha-duḥkhābhyāmfor whose sake by pleasure and pain; on account of which by happiness and suffering
अवशः परिभूयसेavaśaḥ paribhūyasethou, helpless, art pushed about; thou, powerless, art humiliated
अनुवाद
“What is to thee this inert, dumb, fleshly, unclean body, for whose sake thou, helpless, art pushed about by pleasure and pain?”
संस्करण
e88affd8a95a · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 6:29:20 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
An argument from absurdity, and it is put as a question.
The body is described in four words: jaḍa — “inert, insentient”, mūka — “dumb”, māṃsa-maya — “fleshly”, aśuci — “unclean”.
It does not speak, does not feel of itself and has no understanding of its own. And for its sake a man endures the rocking between happiness and sorrow.
The word avaśa — “helpless, not in possession of oneself”, the very one by which in 3.34 the man possessed by lust was described.
Paribhūyase — “thou art pushed about, humiliated”. Not “thou sufferest”, but precisely humiliated: pleasure and pain treat the man like a servant.
Note that the argument here is not about the body's uncleanness — that was already in the third chapter. The argument is in the disproportion: the master serves the dumb.