Upanishads · Muṇḍaka 2.1.2
॥
Devanāgarī
दिव्यः हि अमूर्तः पुरुषः सबाह्य-अभ्यन्तरः हि अजः ।
अप्राणः हि अमनाः शुभ्रः हि अक्षरात् परतः परः ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
divyaḥ hi amūrtaḥ puruṣaḥ sabāhya-abhyantaraḥ hi ajaḥ |
aprāṇaḥ hi amanāḥ śubhraḥ hi akṣarāt parataḥ paraḥ ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
दिव्यःdivyaḥdivine (divya); heavenly-bright; divine indeed
हिhiindeed; indeed
अमूर्तःamūrtaḥformless (a-mūrta — without created form); without shape; beyond [material] figure
पुरुषःpuruṣaḥPuruṣa; the Supreme Person
सबाह्य-अभ्यन्तरःsabāhya-abhyantaraḥboth outer and inner (sa-bāhya-abhyantara); embracing the outer and the inner; outside and within
हिhiindeed; indeed
अजःajaḥunborn; without beginning
अप्राणःaprāṇaḥwithout breath (a-prāṇa); having no prāṇa; beyond the vital current
हिhiindeed; indeed
अमनाःamanāḥwithout mind (a-manas); having no [created] mind; beyond the manas
शुभ्रःśubhraḥpure; radiant
हिhiindeed; indeed
अक्षरात्akṣarātthan the Akṣara; from the imperishable
परतः परःparataḥ paraḥhigher than the highest (paratas para); beyond the beyond; more transcendent than the transcendent
Translation
Divine and formless is the Puruṣa: He is both the outer and the inner, unborn; without breath and without mind, resplendent — higher [even] than the high Imperishable.
Version
7d3ded3a6715 · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:10:40 PM UTC
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A verse that lifts the gaze higher than what has already been shown. divyo hy amūrtaḥ puruṣaḥ — "divine, formless is the Puruṣa": amūrta means without created form (not "impersonal": He is puruṣa, a Person!); sabāhyābhyantaraḥ — "with-the-outer-and-the-inner": He embraces both sides of being; ajaḥ — unborn; aprāṇo hy amanāḥ — "without prāṇa and without mind": life and thought in Him are not organs but Himself (He is the one by whom breath breathes — the Kena); śubhraḥ — resplendent.
And the summit: akṣarāt parataḥ paraḥ — "higher than the high Imperishable". A formula that is a ladder: there is the akṣara — the unmanifest Imperishable, the womb of creation (verse 6, "the Womb of beings") — and there is the Puruṣa above it: above the impersonal depth, the divine Face. The same vertical as in the Kaṭha ("higher than the unmanifest is the Puruṣa: that is the limit") and in the Gītā (15.17–18: "the Supreme Puruṣa is another, called the Paramātmā… I transcend both the perishable and the imperishable, and am therefore celebrated as Puruṣottama").
The order of the two verses (23–24) is the very pedagogy of the Muṇḍaka: first the Fire and the sparks — kinship; now the transcendence: He from whom even the Fire of the unmanifest sparkles. Knowledge that stays with kinship alone lapses into familiarity; with transcendence alone, into estrangement; the truth is in both at once: our own — and infinitely higher.