Upanishads · Kaṭha 4.6
॥
Devanāgarī
यः पूर्वं तपसो जातम् अद्भ्यः पूर्वम् अजायत ।
गुहां प्रविश्य तिष्ठन्तं यो भूतेभिर् व्यपश्यत ॥
एतद् वै तत्
Transliteration (IAST)
yaḥ pūrvaṃ tapaso jātam adbhyaḥ pūrvam ajāyata /
guhāṃ praviśya tiṣṭhantaṃ yo bhūtebhir vyapaśyata //
etad vai tat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यःyaḥwho; the one who
पूर्वम्pūrvambefore; in the beginning
तपसःtapasaḥfrom the heat of austerity (tapas); out of the creative heat; from the austerity [of creation]
जातम्jātamborn; arisen
अद्भ्यःadbhyaḥbefore the waters (ap — 'waters'); prior to the [primal] waters; earlier than the moisture
पूर्वम्pūrvambefore; earlier
अजायतajāyatawas born; came forth
गुहाम्guhāminto the cave; into the heart
प्रविश्यpraviśyahaving entered; having penetrated
तिष्ठन्तम्tiṣṭhantamstanding; abiding
यःyaḥwho; the one who
भूतेभिःbhūtebhiḥwith the beings; through the beings
व्यपश्यतvyapaśyatahe looked (vi-√paś); he gazed [through them]; he contemplated
एतत्etatthis; he
वैvaiverily; indeed
तत्tatthat; That
Translation
He who was born of austerity before the [creative] heat, who arose before the waters, who, having entered the secret place [of the heart], abides [there] and looks out through the beings — this, truly, is That.
Version
3d6f34d124de · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A hymn to the First-born. yaḥ pūrvaṁ tapaso jātam — "born first out of tapas": before any thing there was the heat of the creative austerity, and out of it the First (tradition recognizes here Hiraṇyagarbha, the "Golden Germ", the cosmic soul, and through him the Lord of life himself); adbhyaḥ pūrvam ajāyata — "he arose before the waters": earlier than the first element out of which all is smelted.
And the same First One is here: guhāṁ praviśya tiṣṭhantam — "having entered the cave [of the heart], he stands [in it]"; yo bhūtebhir vyapaśyata — "he looks out through the beings": the first-born gazes at the world with the eyes of every creature. Cosmogony and intimacy in one breath: older than the universe — and inside a rib-cage; before the waters — and behind the pupil of the reader of these lines.
The refrain etad vai tat nails it down: That about which the question was asked — here He is. Not an abstraction of "the beginning of time" but the One who dwells in the secret place, that very one whom verses 55 and 76 showed beside the soul. Greatness does not abolish nearness, nearness does not diminish greatness — the Upaniṣad holds this simultaneity, impossible for the reasoning mind, as a plain fact.