उपनिषद् · Mahā 5.128
॥
देवनागरी
इति शक्तिमयं चेतो घनाहंकारतां गतम् कोशकारक्रिमिरिव स्वेच्छया याति बन्धनम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
iti śaktimayaṃ ceto ghanāhaṃkāratāṃ gatam kośakārakrimiriva svecchayā yāti bandhanam
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
इति शक्ति-मयम् चेतःiti śakti-mayam cetaḥthus consciousness, woven of power; so awareness, consisting of might
घन-अहङ्कारताम् गतम्ghana-ahaṅkāratām gatamhaving come to dense selfhood; having arrived at thickened self-sense
कोश-कार-क्रिमिः इवkośa-kāra-krimiḥ ivalike the worm that makes the cocoon; just as the grub that spins the cocoon
स्व-इच्छया याति बन्धनम्sva-icchayā yāti bandhanamgoes into bondage by its own will; walks into the fetters by its own wish
अनुवाद
“Thus consciousness, woven of power and come to dense selfhood, goes into bondage by its own will — like the worm that spins itself a cocoon.”
संस्करण
c0bb49d7259e · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 6:29:20 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The image of the silkworm is among the finest in Sanskrit letters, and it is in place here.
The worm spins its cocoon itself, out of itself, with its own thread. No one locks it in. It is no victim; it is the craftsman of its own prison.
And it spins it neither from malice nor from folly, but because such is its nature at that season.
Note the word sva-icchayā — “by its own will”. The book does not allow bondage to be blamed on fate or on the Creator.
This echoes 4.115: ignorance is icchā-mātra, “nothing but a wanting”.
Ghana-ahaṅkāratā — “dense selfhood”. Again ghana, “thick”, as in 5.126.
Liberation, then, is a rarefaction.