Upanishads · Kena 4.3
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्माद् वा इन्द्रो ऽतितराम् इवान्यान् देवान् स ह्य् एनन् नेदिष्ठं पस्पर्श स ह्य् एनत् प्रथमो विदाञ्चकार ब्रह्मेति ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmād vā indro 'titarām ivānyān devān sa hy enan nediṣṭhaṃ pasparśa sa hy enat prathamo vidāñcakāra brahmeti ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात्tasmāttherefore; for that reason
वैvaiverily; indeed
इन्द्रःindraḥIndra; the lord of the gods
अतितराम् इवatitarām ivaas it were surpasses; stands especially above
अन्यान् देवान्anyān devānthe other gods; the remaining deities
सः हिsaḥ hifor he; it is he who
एनत्enatHim; this Brahman
नेदिष्ठम्nediṣṭhammost closely; in the nearest way
पस्पर्शpasparśatouched (perfect of √spṛś — 'to touch'); came into contact with; laid hold of
सः हिsaḥ hifor he; it is he who
एनत्enatHim; this one
प्रथमःprathamaḥfirst; before all others; foremost
विदाञ्चकारvidāñcakāraknew; understood
ब्रह्म इतिbrahma itithis is Brahman; Brahman, thus
Translation
And Indra as it were surpasses [even] them: he touched Him most closely, he was the first to know: "This is Brahman."
Version
4577de61e807 · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:28:41 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Within the three there is a further primacy: Indra stands above Agni and Vāyu. How did he earn it? Not by a trial of strength — he was not even admitted to the blade of grass; not by a vision — the yakṣa vanished from him. His advantage is compounded of other things: he stayed where God had disappeared; he asked instead of commanding; he listened and accepted. Persistence, humility, hearing — three steps by which the king of the gods climbed higher than his own kingdom.
prathamo vidāñcakāra — "he was the first to know": primacy in the knowledge of Brahman is the only primacy the Upaniṣad is willing to acknowledge. And it fell to the one of the three who alone met Umā — the Lord's gracious, self-revealing energy. A quiet law is hidden here: grace finds not the strongest but the most unrelenting; it answers not the merits of might but the need of a heart that has not let go of its question.
With this the story ends. Next the Upaniṣad, as its custom is, will compress what has been shown into an instruction — ādeśa — for two worlds at once: the cosmos and the heart.