The verse and its meaning · Upanishads · Shvetashvatara · Knowing and Not Knowing

Choosing Coarse and Fine Forms

Shvetashvatara Upanishad 5.12

स्थूलानि सूक्ष्माणि बहूनि चैव रूपाणि देही स्वगुणैर्वृणोति । क्रियागुणैरात्मगुणैश्च तेषां संयोगहेतुरपरोऽपि दृष्टः

Meaning · English

The embodied one takes on many forms, coarse and subtle, by its own qualities. Another cause is seen joining it to each: the nature of its acts and of itself.

The embodied one is the self as it lives inside a body. It does not wear only one. It takes on many, some coarse and solid, some finer ones that cannot be touched. Which ones it takes depends on its own qualities, the leanings it carries with it. The text then names what ties it to any particular form. There are two things, working together: the kind of actions it has done, and the kind of character it has.

A hermit crab outgrows its shell and moves into another, then another, some heavy and some light. It cannot take just any shell. The one it settles into depends on how big it has grown and what it is. The self moving through forms works the same way: its past acts and its own nature decide which form fits.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Bodies Shaped by Deeds · Shvetashvatara Upanishad 5.11
• Next: Freed From Every Bond · Shvetashvatara Upanishad 5.13
• All of Upanishads · Ask Krishna about it

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