What the scriptures say about emptiness

• Ashtavakra

  अलमर्थेन कामेन सुकृतेनापि कर्मणा । एभ्यः संसारकान्तारे न विश्रान्तमभून् मनः ॥

  alamarthena kāmena sukṛtenāpi karmaṇā | ebhyaḥ saṃsārakāntāre na viśrāntamabhūn manaḥ ||

  Enough of wealth, of desire, even of good deeds. In this wilderness of life the mind never found rest in them.

  Ashtavakra Gita 10.7

  Shows the weariness of having had wealth, pleasure and merit and found no rest in any. our reading

• Bhartrihari

  खलालापाः सोढाः कथमपि तदाराधनपरैः निगृह्यान्तर्बाष्पं हसितमपि शून्येन मनसा । कृतो वित्तस्तम्भप्रतिहतधियामञ्जलिरपि त्वमाशे मोघाशे किमपरमतो नर्तयसि माम् ॥

  khalālāpāḥ soḍhāḥ kathamapi tadārādhanaparaiḥ nigṛhyāntarbāṣpaṃ hasitamapi śūnyena manasā | kṛto vittastambhapratihatadhiyāmañjalirapi tvamāśe moghāśe kimaparamato nartayasi mām ||

  I somehow put up with the taunts of the wicked while trying to please them; I held back my tears and laughed with an empty heart; I folded my hands even before people whose minds were numbed by money. Hope, futile hope, how much more will you make me dance?

  Bhartrihari · Vairagya Shatakam

  Depicts laughing with an empty heart. our reading

• Draupadi

  कुर्वतो नार्थसिद्धिर्मे भवतीति ह भारत / निर्वेदो नात्र गन्तव्यो द्वावन्तौ यस्य कर्मणः

  kurvato nārthasiddhirme bhavatīti ha bhārata / nirvedo nātra gantavyo dvāvantau yasya karmaṇaḥ

  'I keep working and still don't succeed' is no reason to despair. Every effort can end two ways, in success or not; only by not acting is the outcome certain.

  Mahabharata · Vana Parva · Vana: Draupadi and Yudhishthira

  Shows the thought itself: I keep working and nothing comes of it. our reading

• Narada

  सोऽहं भगवो मन्त्रविदेवास्मि नात्मविच्छ्रुतꣳ ह्येव मे भगवद्दृशेभ्यस्तरति शोकमात्मविदिति सोऽहं भगवः शोचामि तं मा भगवाञ्छोकस्य पारं तारयत्विति तꣳ होवाच यद्वै किंचैतदध्यगीष्ठा नामैवैतत् ॥

  so’haṃ bhagavo mantravidevāsmi nātmavicchrutaꣳ hyeva me bhagavaddṛśebhyastarati śokamātmaviditi so’haṃ bhagavaḥ śocāmi taṃ mā bhagavāñchokasya pāraṃ tārayatviti taꣳ hovāca yadvai kiṃcaitadadhyagīṣṭhā nāmaivaitat ||

  'Sir, I know only the texts; I do not know the self. I have heard from people like you that one who knows the self crosses beyond sorrow. I am in sorrow, sir. Please take me across.' He said to him: 'Whatever you have studied is only name.'

  Chhandogya Upanishad 7.1.3

  Shows everything studied and not filled. our reading

• Lord! I have become weary. Oh, take me by the hand, Lord, I take shelter with Thee

  Complete Works, Vol. 6, Notes of Class Talks and Lectures: On Bhakti-Yoga, p. 91

  Gives wanting nothing of this world or another. our reading

• Bhartrihari

  उत्खातं निधिशङ्कया क्षितितलं ध्माता गिरेर्धातवो निस्तीर्णः सरितां पतिर्नृपतयो यत्नेन संतोषिताः । मन्त्राराधनतत्परेण मनसा नीताः श्मशाने निशाः प्राप्तः काणवराटकोऽपि न मया तृष्णे सकामा भव ॥

  utkhātaṃ nidhiśaṅkayā kṣititalaṃ dhmātā girerdhātavo nistīrṇaḥ saritāṃ patirnṛpatayo yatnena saṃtoṣitāḥ | mantrārādhanatatpareṇa manasā nītāḥ śmaśāne niśāḥ prāptaḥ kāṇavarāṭako’pi na mayā tṛṣṇe sakāmā bhava ||

  I dug up the earth hoping for treasure, smelted the ores of mountains, crossed the ocean, lord of rivers, worked hard to please kings, spent nights in cremation grounds with my mind fixed on mantras, and I did not get even a broken cowrie. Craving, be satisfied now!

  Bhartrihari · Vairagya Shatakam

• Bhartrihari

  रात्रिः सैव पुनः स एव दिवसो मत्वा मुधा जन्तवो धावन्त्युद्यमिनस्तथैव निभृतप्रारब्धतत्तत्क्रियाः । व्यापारैः पुनरुक्तभूत विषयैरित्थंविधेनामुना संसारेण कदर्थिता वयमहो मोहान्न लज्जामहे ॥

  rātriḥ saiva punaḥ sa eva divaso matvā mudhā jantavo dhāvantyudyaminastathaiva nibhṛtaprārabdhatattatkriyāḥ | vyāpāraiḥ punaruktabhūta viṣayairitthaṃvidhenāmunā saṃsāreṇa kadarthitā vayamaho mohānna lajjāmahe ||

  Thinking 'it is the same night again, the same day', creatures run about in vain, busy as ever with the tasks they have set going; with work full of the same repeated things, tormented by this round of existence, alas, out of delusion we feel no shame.

  Bhartrihari · Vairagya Shatakam

  Names the sameness of days, said from inside. our reading

• The seers

  अतो नेवाभवच्छान्तिरस्माकं चेतसि प्रभो!। वयं शरणमापन्ना भवल्लोकमुपस्थिताः ॥

  ato nevābhavacchāntirasmākaṃ cetasi prabho!| vayaṃ śaraṇamāpannā bhavallokamupasthitāḥ ||

  So no peace came into our minds, Lord. We have come to your world and taken refuge in you.

  Dheesh Gita 1.42

  Depicts learning did not satisfy. our reading

• Krishna

  तं विद्याद् दुःखसंयोगवियोगं योगसंज्ञितम् । स निश्चयेन योक्तव्यो योगोऽनिर्विण्णचेतसा ॥

  taṃ vidyād duḥkhasaṃyogaviyogaṃ yogasaṃjñitam | sa niścayena yoktavyo yogo’nirviṇṇacetasā ||

  Know that to be yoga: the breaking of contact with sorrow. This yoga should be practised with determination and with an undespairing mind.

  Bhagavad Gita 6.23

• The wish to understandjijñāsā

  The wish to understand answers the weariness that the texts treat as a door. stated in the text

  Mundaka 1.2.12; Yoga Vasishtha 1.30

• Enthusiasmutsāha

  Not losing heart is the root of fortune. stated in the text

  Valmiki Sundara 12

• Servicesevā

  Meaning through work for others. our reading

  Gita 3.20-25; Vivekananda

• Joyānanda

  We act only when we find joy; find where the joy is. stated in the text

  Chandogya 7.22-23; Taittiriya 3.6

• Sanatkumara

  यो वै भूमा तत्सुखं नाल्पे सुखमस्ति भूमैव सुखं भूमा त्वेव विजिज्ञासितव्य इति भूमानं भगवो विजिज्ञास इति ॥

  yo vai bhūmā tatsukhaṃ nālpe sukhamasti bhūmaiva sukhaṃ bhūmā tveva vijijñāsitavya iti bhūmānaṃ bhagavo vijijñāsa iti ||

  The infinite alone is happiness; there is no happiness in the small. The infinite alone is happiness. So the infinite must be understood. 'Sir, I wish to understand the infinite.'

  Chhandogya Upanishad 7.23.1

  Names emptiness as getting small things leads to emptiness. our reading

• Narrator

  आनन्दो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात्। आनन्दाध्येव खल्विमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । आनन्देन जातानि जीवन्ति । आनन्दं प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्तीति । सैषा भार्गवी वारुणी विद्या । परमे व्योमन्प्रतिष्ठिता ।स य एवं वेद प्रतितिष्ठति ।

  ānando brahmeti vyajānāt| ānandādhyeva khalvimāni bhūtāni jāyante | ānandena jātāni jīvanti | ānandaṃ prayantyabhisaṃviśantīti | saiṣā bhārgavī vāruṇī vidyā | parame vyomanpratiṣṭhitā |sa ya evaṃ veda pratitiṣṭhati |

  He understood that joy is Brahman. From joy these beings are born, by joy they live once born, and into joy they enter at death. This is the wisdom of Bhrigu and Varuna, established in the highest space. Whoever knows this becomes established.

  Taittiriya Upanishad 3.6.1

  Shows existence resting on joy from start to end, however flat it feels now. our reading

• Hanuman

  अनिर्वेदः श्रियो मूलमनिर्वेदः परं सुखम्। भूयस्तत्र विचेष्यामि न यत्र विचयः कृतः॥

  anirvedaḥ śriyo mūlamanirvedaḥ paraṃ sukham| bhūyastatra viceṣyāmi na yatra vicayaḥ kṛtaḥ||

  Not losing heart is the root of success; not losing heart is the highest happiness. I will search again, in the places I have not yet searched.

  Valmiki Ramayana · Sundara Kanda

  Shows weariness is refused a verdict. our reading

• Rama

  संसार एव निवहे जनो व्यवहरन्नपि । न बन्धं कथमाप्नोति पद्मपत्रे पयो यथा ॥

  saṃsāra eva nivahe jano vyavaharannapi | na bandhaṃ kathamāpnoti padmapatre payo yathā ||

  How can a person who lives and works in the middle of the world not be bound by it, the way water sits on a lotus leaf?

  Yoga Vasishtha

• Krishna

  मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय । मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव ॥

  mattaḥ parataraṃ nānyatkiñcidasti dhanañjaya | mayi sarvamidaṃ protaṃ sūtre maṇigaṇā iva ||

  There is nothing higher than me, Dhananjaya. All this is strung on me like pearls on a thread.

  Bhagavad Gita 7.7

• Draupadi

  कुर्वतो नार्थसिद्धिर्मे भवतीति ह भारत / निर्वेदो नात्र गन्तव्यो द्वावन्तौ यस्य कर्मणः

  kurvato nārthasiddhirme bhavatīti ha bhārata / nirvedo nātra gantavyo dvāvantau yasya karmaṇaḥ

  'I keep working and still don't succeed' is no reason to despair. Every effort can end two ways, in success or not; only by not acting is the outcome certain.

  Mahabharata · Vana Parva · Vana: Draupadi and Yudhishthira

  Names both possible ends of unrewarded work. our reading

• Ram

  पर हित सरिस धर्म नहिं भाई। पर पीड़ा सम नहिं अधमाई॥ निर्नय सकल पुरान बेद कर। कहेउँ तात जानहिं कोबिद नर ॥

  par hit saris dharma nahiṃ bhāī| par pīṛā sam nahiṃ adhamāī|| nirnay sakal purān bed kar| kaheuṁ tāt jānahiṃ kobid nar ||

  There is no duty equal to doing good to others, brother, and no baseness equal to causing others pain. This is the verdict of all the scriptures; the wise know it.

  Ramcharitmanas · Uttar Kand

  Heals by giving a purpose that needs no special station. our reading

• Kakbhushundi

  भगति हीन गुन सब सुख ऐसे। लवन बिना बहु बिंजन जैसे॥ भजन हीन सुख कवने काजा। अस बिचारि बोलेउँ खगराजा ॥

  bhagati hīn gun sab sukh aise| lavan binā bahu biṃjan jaise|| bhajan hīn sukh kavane kājā| as bicāri boleuṁ khagarājā ||

  Without devotion, all virtues and pleasures are like many dishes without salt. What use is happiness without devotion? Thinking so, I spoke.

  Ramcharitmanas · Uttar Kand

  Shows the full life that still tastes flat is given a reason. our reading

• From the Mahabharata

  Manki's song: desire, I know your root

  Manki spends all he has on a pair of oxen; both are killed in an accident. In his despair he sees through desire: it is born of his own imagining, and he resolves to forgive insults and stop feeding it. Bhishma adds Janaka's verse on owning nothing.

  Desire grows from what we imagine. Stop feeding it, and it fades.

• From the Mahabharata

  Markandeya and the child on the banyan leaf

  At the end of an age, the sage Markandeya drifts alone over a flooded world and sees a radiant child on a banyan branch. The child draws him inside his body, where he sees all the worlds, then asks if he has been resting, tired. Narayana explains he showed himself because he saw Markandeya's distress. Markandeya tells the Pandavas that this child is Krishna, sitting with them.

  When everything you knew is underwater, you have not been forgotten; you are being held.

• From the Mahabharata

  Do right without reward, and keep working

  Draupadi questions a world where the good suffer; Yudhishthira answers that he does right because it is right, not for reward. Draupadi replies that effort still matters: fate rewards no one who waits.

  Do right for its own sake, then work as if it all depends on you.

• From the Ramayana

  Sampati's burned wings

  The search party, past its deadline with no news, sits down by the sea to die. A huge old vulture, Sampati, overhears them talking of his brother Jatayu. He tells them how pride once made him fly too close to the sun and burn his wings; a sage told him they would grow back when he helped Ram's messengers. He tells them where Sita is, and his wings grow back as he speaks.

  Even after the fall your pride caused, you can still be useful, and hope can return.

• Joyआनन्दHeals emptiness
• The wish to understandजिज्ञासाHeals emptiness
• ServiceसेवाHeals emptiness
• Enthusiasmउत्साहHeals emptiness
• Burnoutश्रमFeeds emptiness
• Expectationsतृष्णाFeeds emptiness
• Letting goवैराग्यGrows out of emptiness

See emptiness on the whole map