--> Skip to main content


Sambhuti – Manifested Form Of Brahman

Sambhuti is the opposite of Asambhuti, which stands for the unmanifested form called prakriti. Prakriti or maya is the power of Brahman. When prakriti is in unmanifested form, it is non-different from Brahman and not comprehended.

Isavasya Upanishad deals with the worship of both Sambhuti and Asambhuti. By worshipping Sambhuti alone one enters darker regions (hell) than the ones which the worshipers of Asambhuti enter. The idea is that by worshiping the manifested, one acquires supernormal powers like becoming subtle, controlling others etc. The result of the worship of the unmanifested is absorption with prakriti (primordial nature).

Now if one combines the worship of the manifested and the unmanifested, one goes beyond death by the worship of Sambhuti and attains immortality by the worship of Asambhuti. That is, when a person combines these two modes of worship, one achieves detachment from the supernormal powers, too, and is directed towards the self leading to liberation. Thus, Sambhuti worship, too, leads a person to reach the supreme goal.

Swavi Sarvananda has pointed out it is difficult to get at the real meaning of verses 12, 13, and 14 of Ishavasya Upanishad, in which the words ‘sambhuti’ and ‘Asambhuti’ occur. This arises because the words are used interchangeably. According to Adi Shankara, the combined worship of prakriti and Hiranyagarbha takes one to the highest position attainable through work. According to another commentator, Uvatacharya, the yogin who knows both Brahman (Sambhuti) and secret of the body attains immortality through the knowledge of Brahman, having crossed death through works performed with the body, productive of jnana.