Upanishads · Māṇḍūkya 2
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वं ह्य् एतद् ब्रह्मायम् आत्मा ब्रह्म सो ऽयम् आत्मा चतुष्पात्
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvaṃ hy etad brahmāyam ātmā brahma so 'yam ātmā catuṣpāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वम्sarvamall (sarva); all this; the totality
हिhiindeed; truly
एतत्etatthis; that which is given
ब्रह्मbrahmaBrahman; the Absolute
अयम्ayamthis (ayam — 'this one here, the nearest'); this very; this one right here
आत्माātmāthe Ātman; the self
ब्रह्मbrahmaBrahman; the Absolute
सः अयम्saḥ ayamthis very one; precisely this
आत्माātmāthe Ātman; the self
चतुष्पात्catuṣpātfourfold (catuṣ-pāt — 'having four feet/quarters'); possessed of four pādas; four-footed [as a support]
Translation
All this is truly Brahman. This Ātman is Brahman. And this Ātman is fourfold.
Version
175a9b20311a · published Jul 26, 2026, 7:21:18 PM UTC
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Three short sentences — three pillars for everything that follows. sarvaṁ hy etad brahma — "all this is Brahman": the world is not outside the Divine (the Muṇḍaka ended with the same words: "Brahman before, Brahman behind…"). ayam ātmā brahma — "this Ātman is Brahman": ayam — "this one here", the nearest: the one who is reading and being conscious right now is no stranger to the Divine but His spark, of His nature (the Muṇḍaka: sparks of the same fire). Taken together, the first two formulas rule out two deserts: a world without God and a soul without God.
so 'yam ātmā catuṣpāt — "and this Ātman has four pādas": pāda means both "quarter" and "foot" (as a cow has four feet — Śaṅkara's image): consciousness stands on four supports, and we ordinarily know only three: waking, dream, deep sleep. The Upaniṣad will lead us through them as up a stair — to the fourth, which is not "one more state" but the Ground of the three.
The genius of the Māṇḍūkya's plan lies in its choice of material: not cosmology, not ritual — the twenty-four hours of any human being. Everyone passes daily through all three states — and never asks who it is that passes through them. The Upaniṣad takes the most universally available experience and makes it a ladder to God: examine your own waking, dream and oblivion — and you will find the Fourth, on which all three stand.