Upanishads · Kena 4.8
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्यै तपो दमः कर्मेति प्रतिष्ठा वेदाः सर्वाङ्गानि सत्यम् आयतनम् ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
tasyai tapo damaḥ karmeti pratiṣṭhā vedāḥ sarvāṅgāni satyam āyatanam ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्यैtasyaifor it; for this Upaniṣad
तपःtapaḥausterity (tapas, from √tap — 'to burn'); asceticism; the heat of a gathered life
दमःdamaḥrestraint (from √dam — 'to tame'); self-control; the bridling of the senses
कर्मkarmaaction; duty rightly done
इतिitithus; such are they
प्रतिष्ठाpratiṣṭhāthe foundation (prati-√ṣṭhā — 'to stand firm'); the support; the base
वेदाःvedāḥthe Vedas; the Vedic texts
सर्वाङ्गानिsarvāṅgāniall the limbs (sarva-aṅga); its whole body; all its parts
सत्यम्satyamtruth; truthfulness
आयतनम्āyatanamthe abode (ā-√yat — 'to rest in'); the home; the dwelling place
Translation
Austerity, restraint and work are its foundation; the Vedas are all its limbs; truth is its abode.
Version
c7da7f9a5687 · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:28:41 PM UTC
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By what is the highest knowledge held in a man? By three supports: tapas — austerity, the heat of a gathered life; dama — restraint of the senses; karma — work, service (in the spirit of the Īśa Upaniṣad, mantra 2: action that does not stain the doer). This is not an entrance fee paid in advance but the soil in which the planted word lives: knowledge of Brahman has its husbandry, and it is simple — discipline, temperance, labour.
vedāḥ sarvāṅgāni — "the Vedas are all its limbs": the instruction does not float apart from revelation, it is revelation's heart, and the whole body of the scriptures serves it as limbs serve life. satyam āyatanam — "truth is its home": knowledge of the Real lives only in the truthful; a man who has lied has evicted truth from himself before he notices it. Falsehood is incompatible with Brahman not by prohibition but by nature — as darkness with light.
This mantra is the antidote to an airborne spirituality: the loftiest mysticism of Tadvana stands on a moral floor. Without tapas, restraint and truth the teaching evaporates into fine words — that very "greater darkness" of proud knowledge against which the Īśa Upaniṣad warned (mantra 9).