Upanishads · Kaṭha 2.21
॥
Devanāgarī
आसीनो दूरं व्रजति शयानो याति सर्वतः ।
कस् तं मदामदं देवं मद् अन्यो ज्ञातुम् अर्हति
Transliteration (IAST)
āsīno dūraṃ vrajati śayāno yāti sarvataḥ /
kas taṃ madāmadaṃ devaṃ mad anyo jñātum arhati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आसीनःāsīnaḥsitting (participle of √ās — 'to sit'); seated; remaining motionless
दूरम्dūramfar away; to a distance
व्रजतिvrajatihe travels (from √vraj — 'to go'); goes; moves
शयानःśayānaḥlying (from √śī — 'to lie'); at rest; reclining
यातिyātigoes; moves
सर्वतःsarvataḥeverywhere; in all directions
कःkaḥwho; which
तम्tamit; of this
मदामदम्madāmadamexulting without exultation (mada-amada); joyous and sober at once; blissful without intoxication
देवम्devamthe shining one; the divine one
मत्matbesides me; from me
अन्यःanyaḥanother; other
ज्ञातुम्jñātumto know; to comprehend
अर्हतिarhatiis fit (from √arh — 'to deserve'); is rightly able; may presume
Translation
"Sitting, He travels far; lying, He moves everywhere. Who besides me is fit to know this God — who exults without exultation?"
Version
c5baa1543918 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The paradoxes return — now as marks of recognition. āsīno dūraṁ vrajati — "sitting, He goes far"; śayāno yāti sarvataḥ — "lying, He moves everywhere": motionless and omnipresent at once (the Īśa Upaniṣad, mantras 4–5, minted the same formulas). Logic is powerless where both opposites are true — and in that powerlessness it begins to point aright: it means the speech is of Him who is not in the series of things.
madāmadam — a riddle of a word: "exulting-without-exultation" (mada-amada): His joy is neither an excitement nor a torpor — a bliss without a swing, a mirth that needs no occasion and risks no hangover; deva — again "God", a shining Person, not a grey principle.
kas taṁ mad anyo jñātum arhati — "who besides me is fit to know Him?" In Death's mouth this is no boast but a stern truth about the price of the knowledge: to know Him who is beyond life and death, one must stand at that very boundary. But a teacher's smile is audible here too: "besides me" — and beside him sits the one who is about to become the second. Knowledge is handed on — that is the whole event of the Kaṭha: what is unattainable for the worlds passes from the Teacher to a boy who asked in earnest.