उपनिषद् · Mahā 5.135
॥
देवनागरी
समुद्धर मनो ब्रह्मन्मातङ्गमिव कर्दमात् एवं जीवाश्रिता भावा भवभावनयाहिताः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
samuddhara mano brahmanmātaṅgamiva kardamāt evaṃ jīvāśritā bhāvā bhavabhāvanayāhitāḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
समुद्धर मनः ब्रह्मन्samuddhara manaḥ brahmanpull out the mind, O brāhmaṇa; extract consciousness, O brāhmaṇa
मातङ्गम् इव कर्दमात्mātaṅgam iva kardamātlike an elephant out of the mire; just as an elephant from the bog
एवम् जीव-आश्रिताः भावाःevam jīva-āśritāḥ bhāvāḥthus the states lodged in the jīva; so the dispositions sheltering in the soul
भव-भावनया आहिताःbhava-bhāvanayā āhitāḥare deposited by the thought of becoming; are laid down by the musing upon existence
अनुवाद
“Pull out the mind, O brāhmaṇa, as one pulls an elephant out of the mire; thus the states lodged in the jīva are deposited by the thought of becoming.”
संस्करण
5534b1f4609c · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 6:29:20 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The image of the elephant in the bog is good in that it does not demean.
The elephant is neither small nor weak. It is stuck.
And it must be pulled out not by force but with skill: an elephant is not jerked out of mud.
Note the verb samuddhara — “extract, lift up”. The same root as in the famous verse of the Bhagavad-gītā: uddhared ātmanātmānam — “let him raise himself by himself”.
The second half returns to the cause: bhava-bhāvanayā āhitāḥ — “deposited by the thought of becoming”.
The word āhita means “laid down, deposited, given into keeping”. Our states have not grown onto us; they are in our keeping.
Which means they can also be handed back.