Upanishads · Kaṭha 3.13
॥
Devanāgarī
यच्छेद् वाङ्मनसी प्राज्ञस् तद् यच्छेज् ज्ञान आत्मनि ।
ज्ञानम् आत्मनि महति नियच्छेत् तद् यच्छेच् छान्त आत्मनि
Transliteration (IAST)
yacched vāṅmanasī prājñas tad yacchej jñāna ātmani /
jñānam ātmani mahati niyacchet tad yacchec chānta ātmani
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यच्छेत्yacchetlet him hold (optative of √yam — 'to rein in'); let him plunge it; let him lead it in
वाक्vākspeech; the word
मनसीmanasīin the mind; in the manas
प्राज्ञःprājñaḥthe wise man (prājña — 'the discerning'); the knowing; the judicious
तत्tatthat one; this
यच्छेत्yacchetlet him hold (optative of √yam — 'to rein in'); let him plunge it; let him lead it in
ज्ञानम्jñānamknowledge; knowing
आत्मनिātmaniin the Ātman; in the self
ज्ञानम्jñānamknowledge; knowing
आत्मनिātmaniin the Ātman; in the self
महतिmahatigreat; in the mahat
नियच्छेत्niyacchetlet him settle it (ni-√yam — 'to hold within'); let him establish it; let him gather it
तत्tatthat; this
यच्छेत्yacchetlet him hold (optative of √yam — 'to rein in'); let him plunge it; let him lead it in
शान्तेśāntein the tranquil (śānta — 'the peaceful'); in the Most Still; in the Ātman of peace
आत्मनिātmaniin the Ātman; in the supreme Self
Translation
Let the wise man merge speech into the mind, let him hold the mind in the intellect-knowledge, let him lead the intellect into the great Ātman, and let him settle the great one in the Ātman of peace.
Version
a80836f2b577 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The whetting promised by the last verse in practice — the famous "folding in" of consciousness. yacched vāṅ manasī — "let him hold speech in the mind": the first step is silence, the drawing of the word into thought; tad yacchej jñāna ātmani — "the mind into the intellect-knowledge" (jñāna-ātman — the luminous discriminating faculty): thought gives itself up to clarity; jñānam ātmani mahati niyacchet — "the intellect into the great Ātman": clarity bows before the soul; tad yacchec chānta ātmani — "and that into the Ātman of peace": and the soul lays all down in the Most Still, in Him who is called śānta — Peace.
The verb √yam — "to hold, to rein in" (kin to the words yama and saṁyama) — is the same that governed the horses: the folding-in is no violence upon the faculties but the return of each to its stall for the night: speech falls silent not slain but taken in; the mind is not suppressed but received by the intellect; the intellect is not abolished but handed over to the higher.
The ladder of verses 64–65 is here traversed from the top down by an act of will: what was a map there has become a route here. The terminal point is śānta ātmā, "the pacified Ātman": peace not as the fatigue of exercises but as the name of Him in whom everything has found its place. The Gītā (6.25) compresses this verse into one line: śanaiḥ śanair uparamed — "little by little, step by step, let him grow still, with the intellect established in firmness — and let him think of nothing else".