Upanishads · 1.8
॥
Devanāgarī
स पर्यगाच् छुक्रम् अकायम् अव्रणम् अस्नाविरं शुद्धम् अपापविद्धम् ।
कविर् मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भूर् याथातथ्यतोर् ऽथान् व्यदधाच् छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः
Transliteration (IAST)
sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam asnāviraṃ śuddham apāpaviddham |
kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr yāthātathyator 'thān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सःsaḥHe; that one; this Ātman
पर्यगात्paryagāthas encompassed all (pari-√gā — 'to go round'); has pervaded everywhere; has embraced
शुक्रम्śukramluminous; radiant; pure as light
अकायम्akāyambodiless (without a material body); having no fleshly covering; beyond any created form
अव्रणम्avraṇamwithout a wound; unhurt; without flaw
अस्नाविरंasnāviraṃwithout sinews; without tendons; not composed of flesh
शुद्धम्śuddhampure; unstained; purified
अपापविद्धम्apāpaviddhamunpierced by sin (from √vyadh — 'to pierce'); beyond the reach of evil; sinless
कविःkaviḥthe seer; the sage who sees all; the poet-creator
मनीषीmanīṣīthe thinker; master of intelligence (from manīṣā — 'wise will'); supremely wise
परिभूःparibhūḥall-encompassing (pari-√bhū — 'to surpass by encompassing'); surpassing all; supreme ruler
स्वयम्भूःsvayambhūḥself-existent; being of Himself; dependent on none
याथातथ्यतःyāthātathyataḥaccording to their true nature; as they really are (yathā tathā — 'as it is'); in accordance with reality
अर्थान्arthānthe meanings; the purposes; the objects
व्यदधात्vyadadhāthas apportioned (vi-√dhā — 'to distribute, to ordain'); has ordered; has assigned
शाश्वतीभ्यःśāśvatībhyaḥeternal; unceasing; for the everlasting
समाभ्यःsamābhyaḥyears; ages; periods of time
Translation
He has encompassed all — luminous, bodiless, without flaw or sinew, pure, unpierced by sin. Seer, thinker, all-encompassing, self-existent, He has apportioned everything according to its true nature for eternal ages.
Version
71cf9d2fce58 · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:17:19 PM UTC
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The heart of the Upaniṣad: after the paradoxes (mantras 4–5) and the fruits of vision (6–7) comes a direct description of the One who has been spoken of. First the negations: sa paryagāt — "He has encompassed all" (pari-√gā — "to go round": there is no place He has not "reached"); śukram — luminous; akāyam — without a body; avraṇam — without a wound; asnāviram — not threaded with sinews; śuddham — pure; apāpa-viddham — unpierced by sin. The negations are precise: they take from the Absolute a material body — woven of sinews, vulnerable, liable to sin — but not personhood itself.
For at once, without a pause, the mantra speaks affirmatively: kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūḥ — "seer, thinker, all-encompassing lord, self-existent". Only a person can see, think and rule; to an impersonal light one can ascribe neither the wisdom of a seer (kavitva) nor an intelligent will (manīṣā). And the crown of the mantra: yāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāt śāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ — "He has apportioned all things according to their true nature for eternal ages". The world is neither accidental nor absurd: every being, every thing, every duty has the place and purpose (artha) allotted by the Lord. Dharma is not a human institution but this original apportioning of meanings.
Thus the supposed quarrel between the "impersonal" and the "personal" is resolved: the negative definitions cleanse our conception of Him of material admixtures, the positive ones disclose in Him an eternal Person whose nature is not created but spiritual — sac-cid-ānanda, being, consciousness and bliss, as Vedānta calls it. Light is no rival to form: the light is His radiance, the form is He Himself.