Upanishads · Kaṭha 2.25
॥
Devanāgarī
यस्य ब्रह्म च क्षत्रं च उभे भवत ओदनः ।
मृत्युर् यस्योपसेचनं क इत्था वेद यत्र सः
Transliteration (IAST)
yasya brahma ca kṣatraṃ ca ubhe bhavata odanaḥ /
mṛtyur yasyopasecanaṃ ka itthā veda yatra saḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यस्यyasyawhose; for whom
ब्रह्मbrahmathe brahmanical power; sacred knowledge
चcaand; as well as
क्षत्रम्kṣatramkṣatra (kṣatra — power, the warrior principle); the royal power; the sovereign might
चcaand; as well as
उभेubheboth; the two powers
भवतःbhavataḥbecome; are
ओदनःodanaḥboiled rice (odana); food; the meal
मृत्युःmṛtyuḥdeath; Yama
यस्यyasyawhose; for whom
उपसेचनम्upasecanamthe sauce (upa-√sic — 'to pour over'); the gravy; the relish
कःkaḥwho; which
इत्थाitthāso, truly so; just so; in this way
वेदvedaknows; realises
यत्रyatrawhere; in whom
सःsaḥhe; that one
Translation
He for whom both brahmanhood and the warrior power are boiled rice, and death is the relish — who [among mortals] knows thus where He is?
Version
154a623b2a64 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
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The finale of the second vallī — an image that takes the breath away. yasya brahma ca kṣatraṁ ca ubhe bhavata odanaḥ — "for whom both brahma and kṣatra are the rice [of His meal]": the two sovereign powers of the world — priesthood (wisdom, rite, the word) and dominion (kingdom, army, law) — are for Him only food, a single dish. mṛtyur yasyopasecanam — "and death is the relish": that very Death who is conducting this conversation, who humbles the gods and swallows the worlds, is the sauce to His meal.
So at the end of the vallī the scale is abruptly widened: everything a man knows as great — culture and empire, the sacred and the terrible, destruction itself — the Upaniṣad lays upon His plate. He is not "higher" than these powers in a series of comparisons — they enter into Him as food into an eater, and cease to be visible separately.
ka itthā veda yatra saḥ — "who knows thus where He is?" A question that is an exclamation, not a despair: it has just been said by whom He is attainable — by the one chosen by His grace (verse 52). The vallī that began with a choice between the good and the pleasant ends at the threshold of Him before whom death itself is a relish: the third vallī will carry us there by chariot — the famous image of the road at whose end stands "the supreme abode of Viṣṇu".