Upanishads · Kaṭha 4.10
॥
Devanāgarī
यद् एवेह तद् अमुत्र यद् अमुत्र तद् अन्व् इह ।
मृत्योः स मृत्युम् आप्नोति य इह नानेव पश्यति
Transliteration (IAST)
yad eveha tad amutra yad amutra tad anv iha /
mṛtyoḥ sa mṛtyum āpnoti ya iha nāneva paśyati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत्yatwhat; that which
एवevaindeed; truly
इहihahere; in this world
तत्tatthat; this
अमुत्रamutrathere (amutra — 'in that world'); in the other world; beyond
यत्yatwhat; that which
अमुत्रamutrathere (amutra — 'in that world'); in the other world; beyond
तत्tatthat; this
अनुanuthereafter; in return
इहihahere; in this world
मृत्योःmṛtyoḥfrom death; out of death
सःsaḥhe; such a man
मृत्युम्mṛtyuminto death; to death
आप्नोतिāpnotiattains; falls into
यःyaḥwho; the one who
इहihahere; in this
नानाnānāthe manifold [and separate] (nānā — 'diverse'); multiplicity; the disjointed
इवivaas it were; as though; as though
पश्यतिpaśyatisees; looks
Translation
What is here, that is there; what is there, that is here too. From death to death goes he who sees here as it were the manifold [and separate].
Version
06da658c5a25 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
yad eveha tad amutra — "what is here, that is there": the same Reality upholds both this world and that; between "here" and "there" there is no metaphysical border — the Lord of what has been and what shall be is one (verse 76). The verse strikes at two fears at once: at the fear of death ("there" is no foreign country — the Same is there) and at contempt for the world ("here" is no exile — the Same is here).
mṛtyoḥ sa mṛtyum āpnoti ya iha nāneva paśyati — "from death to death comes he who sees here as it were the manifold". The key is in the word iva, "as it were": what is condemned is not the seeing of multiplicity (flowers differ, souls differ — and nowhere does the Upaniṣad bid us go blind to differences) but the seeing of multiplicity as self-existent — nānā without a common Root, the world as a scatter of unconnected things that may be grabbed one by one. He who sees so lives by grabbing — and dies with every dying thing: as many deaths as there are attachments to separate things.
But he who sees the One in the many dies one death of the body — and none in essence. Manifoldness has not been abolished for him, but it has ceased to be final: he sees a garden, not a heap of flowers — and the Gardener behind the garden.