Upanishads · Muṇḍaka 1.1.4
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मै सः होवाच ।
द्वे विद्ये वेदितव्ये इति ह स्म यद् ब्रह्मविदः वदन्ति परा च एव अपरा च ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmai saḥ hovāca |
dve vidye veditavye iti ha sma yad brahmavidaḥ vadanti parā ca eva aparā ca ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मैtasmaito him; for him
सः ह उवाचsaḥ ha uvācahe said; the sage replied
द्वे विद्येdve vidyetwo sciences (dve vidye); two knowledges; the two vidyās
वेदितव्येveditavyeare to be known (gerundive of √vid); are to be known; must be known
इति ह स्मiti ha smathus indeed; so from of old
यत्yatwhat; how
ब्रह्मविदःbrahmavidaḥthe knowers of Brahman (brahma-vid); those who know Brahman; the brahma-vids
वदन्तिvadantithey say; they declare
परा च एवparā ca evathe higher indeed; and the transcendent
अपरा चaparā caand the lower; and the nearer
Translation
And he said to him: "Two sciences are to be known — so say the knowers of Brahman: the higher and the lower."
Version
3b53b9bd4b0e · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:10:40 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The answer begins with a distinction — dve vidye veditavye — "two vidyās must be known": parā caivāparā ca — "the higher and the lower". Before pointing to the One, the teacher divides knowledge in two: without that division Śaunaka's very question is insoluble — for plainly a knowledge of grammar does not give a knowledge of chemistry; "to know one thing and know all" is possible only at a knowledge of another order, and that order must first be distinguished from the familiar one.
Note how the answer is delivered: iti ha sma yad brahmavido vadanti — "so, verily, say the knowers of Brahman": Aṅgiras — a link in the chain of verses 1–2 — answers not from himself but from the succession. Even the structure of the answer is a lesson: truth is impersonal in the sense that it does not belong to the one who answers; he is its servant, not its author.
And a subtlety: both vidyās are called veditavye — "to be known": the lower is not discarded! Both must be known — but as two, with a discrimination of the place of each. He who is ignorant of the lower is helpless; he who halts at it is blind to the goal; he who fancies that the higher abolishes the lower destroys the ladder by which he himself climbed. What exactly belongs to the lower the next verse will say with astonishing boldness.