Upanishads · Muṇḍaka 1.1.9
॥
Devanāgarī
यः सर्वज्ञः सर्ववित् यस्य ज्ञानमयं तपः ।
तस्मात् एतत् ब्रह्म नाम रूपम् अन्नं च जायते ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
yaḥ sarvajñaḥ sarvavit yasya jñānamayaṃ tapaḥ |
tasmāt etat brahma nāma rūpam annaṃ ca jāyate ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यःyaḥwhich; the one who
सर्वज्ञःsarvajñaḥthe all-knowing (sarva-jña); omniscient; knowing everything [as a whole]
सर्ववित्sarvavitall-knowing (sarva-vid); knowing everything [in detail]; the knower of all
यस्यyasyawhose; in whom
ज्ञानमयम्jñānamayamconsisting of knowledge (jñāna-maya); woven of knowledge; knowledge-woven
तपःtapaḥtapas; spiritual heat
तस्मात्tasmātout of it; from him
एतत्etatthis; the present
ब्रह्मbrahmaBrahman; the manifest sacred
नामnāmaname (nāman); appellation; naming
रूपम्rūpamform (rūpa); a shape; form
अन्नम् चannam caand food; and nourishment
जायतेjāyateis born; arises
Translation
From Him who is all-knowing and omniscient, whose austerity consists of knowledge, is born this brahman — name, form and food.
Version
79592db57f71 · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:10:40 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A clarification that changes everything: yaḥ sarvajñaḥ sarva-vit — "who is all-knowing, omniscient": the Source of creation is not an impersonal force but a Knower; yasya jñānamayaṁ tapaḥ — "whose tapas is woven of knowledge": the heat by which the world is "built up" (verse 8) is not a blind energy but a seeing one: creation is the thought of a Thinker, an act of omniscience, not the fermentation of an element.
tasmād etad brahma nāma rūpam annaṁ ca jāyate — "from Him is born this brahman — name, form and food": "this brahman" is the manifest itself, the world as an unfolded word; and it is analysed into three: nāma — name (the intelligible side of every thing), rūpa — form (the perceptible), anna — food (the material, nourishing). Every thing in the world is a threefold knot of name, shape and substance — and the whole knot is tied by the Knower.
This verse is the Vedic answer to the perennial question about the rationality of the universe: the order, beauty and knowability of the world are not surprising if the world is the fruit of a jñānamaya tapas, an austerity woven of knowledge. We can know the universe because it is itself made of Knowledge; science is possible because the world was first thought. Śaunaka is given the first half of his answer: everything is knowable through One — because everything issued from one Knower.