Upanishads · Kena 2.3
॥
Devanāgarī
यस्यामतं तस्य मतं मतं यस्य न वेद सः ।
अविज्ञातं विजानतां विज्ञातम् अविजानताम् ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
yasyāmataṃ tasya mataṃ mataṃ yasya na veda saḥ |
avijñātaṃ vijānatāṃ vijñātam avijānatām ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यस्यyasyafor whom; in whose case
अमतम्amatamnot conceived (a-mata, from √man — 'to think'); not seized by thought; not made an object of the mind
तस्यtasyafor him; in his case
मतम्matamconceived; grasped by thought; made into a concept
मतम्matamconceived; grasped by thought; made into a concept
यस्यyasyafor whom; in whose case
नnanot; no
वेदvedaknows; is aware
सःsaḥhe; that one
अविज्ञातम्avijñātamnot known (a-vi-jñāta); not objectified by knowledge; unrealised
विजानताम्vijānatāmfor those who know [as an object]; for those who fancy they have understood; among the learned
विज्ञातम्vijñātamknown; realised; revealed
अविजानताम्avijānatāmfor those who do not know [as an object]; for those who refuse to objectify; among the humble in knowledge
Translation
He by whom It is not conceived, by him It is conceived; he by whom It is conceived does not know It. It is not known by those who know, and known by those who do not know.
Version
d673bbbe122c · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:28:41 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An aphorism honed to the utmost — the whole first khaṇḍa compressed. mata is a participle of √man, "seized by thought", a mental cast. He who says "I have conceived Him" is holding a cast; he who has understood that every cast is too small (yasya amatam — "for whom He is not conceived") alone comes into contact with Him as He is. Knowledge that knows its own limit is true; knowledge that does not know its limit knows only itself.
The "non-knowers" to whom He is known are neither idle nor ignorant: they are those who have refused to make Him an object. What remains when the mind stops grasping? Not emptiness — attention: reverence, inquiry, service, listening. A Person — and the Upaniṣad has already called Him hearing, thinking, leading — is not known as a thing is known: a thing is taken, to a Person one opens oneself, and He opens Himself — to whom He will.
The same logic is in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.23): "the Ātman is not attained by exposition, nor by intellect, nor by much hearing; whom He chooses, by him is He attained: to him the Ātman reveals His own form" (yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena labhyas tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanūṁ svām). Knowledge of God is in the last resort His gift, and what prepares one for the gift is not sharpness of mind but straightness of heart.