Upanishads · Praśna 6.8
॥
Devanāgarī
ते तम् अर्चयन्तस् त्वं हि नः पिता यो ऽस्माकम् अविद्यायाः परं पारं तारयसीति नमः ।
परमऋषिभ्यो नमः परमऋषिभ्यः
Transliteration (IAST)
te tam arcayantas tvaṃ hi naḥ pitā yo 'smākam avidyāyāḥ paraṃ pāraṃ tārayasīti namaḥ |
paramaṛṣibhyo namaḥ paramaṛṣibhyaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तेtethey; the pupils
तम्tamit; Pippalāda
अर्चयन्तःarcayantaḥhonouring (from √arc — 'to revere'); paying reverence; worshipping
त्वम् हिtvam hifor you; it is you who
नः पिताnaḥ pitāour father (pitṛ); a father to us; our begetter
यःyaḥwhich; the one who
अस्माकम्asmākamus; for us
अविद्यायाःavidyāyāḥof ignorance (a-vidyā); of unknowing; of the darkness of ignorance
परम् पारम्param pāramto the far shore (param pāram); to the other bank; beyond the bound
तारयसि इतिtārayasi itiyou carry across (causative of √tṝ); you ferry over; you bring [us] to the shore
नमःnamaḥobeisance; homage
परमऋषिभ्यःparamaṛṣibhyaḥto the highest ṛṣis (parama-ṛṣi); to the greatest seers; to the supreme sages
नमःnamaḥobeisance; homage
परमऋषिभ्यःparamaṛṣibhyaḥto the highest ṛṣis (parama-ṛṣi); to the greatest seers; to the supreme sages
Translation
And they, honouring him, [said]: "You are our father, for you carry us across to the far shore, beyond ignorance." Homage to the supreme seers! Homage to the supreme seers!
Version
52b83d18fd5b · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:35:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The finale of the Upaniṣad is a thanksgiving. te tam arcayantaḥ — "they, honouring him": tvaṁ hi naḥ pitā — "you are our father". Six came with firewood (verse 1) — they leave as sons: one who has received from a teacher a new birth in knowledge gains a second father, and this fatherhood the tradition honours above the fatherhood of blood: the body begets for death, the teacher's word for immortality.
The ground of the sonship is named exactly: yo 'smākam avidyāyāḥ paraṁ pāraṁ tārayasi — "you carry us across to the far shore of ignorance": tārayasi is a causative of √tṝ, "to ferry across": the teacher is a ferryman (the same crossing as in the Īśa — "across death" — and the bridge-and-shore of the Kaṭha). Not "he pointed out the shore" but "he carries across": a real teacher is not a map but a boatman: he spends himself on the passage.
namaḥ parama-ṛṣibhyo namaḥ parama-ṛṣibhyaḥ — "homage to the supreme seers, homage to the supreme seers": the double seal of the book's close — and its last gesture: as the Īśa ended with "the fullest word of homage", so the Praśna ends with a bow to the chain of seers along which the six answers came down to the six who asked — and come down to the reader. The Upaniṣad of questions ends not with an answer but with gratitude: and that is the last answer — one who has learned to Whom he owes everything, bows.