Upanishads · 1.9
॥
Devanāgarī
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति ये ऽविद्याम् उपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उविद्यायां रताः
Transliteration (IAST)
andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'vidyām upāsate |
tato bhūya iva te tamo ya uvidyāyāṃ ratāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अन्धम्andhamblind; impenetrable; devoid of light
तमःtamaḥdarkness; gloom; ignorance
प्रविशन्तिpraviśantienter; sink into; arrive at
येyethose who; they who; the people who
अविद्याम्avidyāmignorance; action without knowledge (works for their fruits); avidyā
उपासतेupāsateworship (upa-√ās — 'to sit near, to revere'); give themselves up to; serve
ततःtataḥthan that; than this; thereafter
भूयःbhūyaḥstill greater; deeper; more profound
इवivaas it were; as though; so to speak
तेtethey; those ones; such people
तमःtamaḥdarkness; gloom; ignorance
येyethose who; they who; the people who
उuon the other hand; by contrast; indeed
विद्यायाम्vidyāyāmin knowledge; in vidyā alone (in abstract learning); in erudition
रताःratāḥdelighting (from √ram — 'to take pleasure'); attached; immersed
Translation
Into blind darkness enter those who worship ignorance; but into greater darkness, as it were, those who delight in knowledge alone.
Version
959da0810c43 · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:17:19 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The beginning of the celebrated triad on vidyā and avidyā (mantras 9–11). Its verdict cuts both ways: into blind darkness enter those who worship avidyā, but into a still greater darkness those intoxicated with vidyā alone. By avidyā is meant here not simple illiteracy but the whole culture of activity for the sake of its fruits: labours, rites and achievements performed without knowledge of the soul and its Lord. Such a life darkens because it chains one to the temporary. But knowledge has its own, subtler darkness — pride. ratāḥ — "delighting" (√ram — "to take pleasure"): learning that has become an end in itself and an object of enjoyment breeds a conceit harder to escape than simple-hearted ignorance.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.4) passes the same sentence on dry knowledge: śreyaḥ-sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye — "those who cast aside the path of devotion for the sake of knowledge alone labour hard, and their whole gain is the labour itself". Knowledge that has not bowed before the Known remains a circling of the mind around itself.
The mantra does not equate the two paths but exposes the one-sidedness of each: work without light — and light without service. The way out of both darknesses will be shown by the eleventh mantra: knowledge and action joined together.