Alakṣaṇa | "indefinable"

Alakshana

Alakṣaṇa (IAST)
Translation: "indefinable"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 7)

A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Monier-Williams)
Sanskrit: अलक्षण
Transliteration: A-lakṣaṇa
Translation: "having no signs or marks, without characteristics"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: अलक्षण
Transliteration: Alakṣaṇa
Translation: "indefinable; without any sign or mark"

Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: अलक्षणम्
Transliteration: Alakṣaṇam
Translation: "devoid of all signs "

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Transliteration: Alakṣaṇam

Commentary: "Indefinable is it. You cannot describe it. No definition of it is possible, because what is definition but an association of qualities which you have seen, heard, etc.? But here is something which you have not seen, which you have not heard of; how can you have a characterization of it? There is, thus, no definition of this Being of beings. No one can say anything about it."

References:

1. Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
3. Sharvananda, Swami (1920). Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads: With Sanskrit Text; Paraphrase with Word-For-Word Literal Translation, English, Rendering and Comments. Mylapore, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math
4. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 83.