Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,1.2
॥
Devanāgarī
सः ह द्वादशवर्षः उपेत्य चतुर्विंशतिवर्षः सर्वान् वेदान् अधीत्य महामनाः अनूचानमानी स्तब्धः एयाय तम् ह पिता उवाच
Transliteration (IAST)
saḥ ha dvādaśavarṣaḥ upetya caturviṃśativarṣaḥ sarvān vedān adhītya mahāmanāḥ anūcānamānī stabdhaḥ eyāya tam ha pitā uvāca
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सःsaḥhe; that one
हhaindeed; surely
द्वादशवर्षःdvādaśavarṣaḥat twelve years old (dvādaśa-varṣa); when twelve years of age; as a boy of twelve
उपेत्यupetyahaving gone [to a teacher] (upa + √i — 'to come to a teacher'); having entered on his study; having entered
चतुर्विंशतिवर्षःcaturviṃśativarṣaḥat twenty-four years old (caturviṁśati-varṣa); at the age of twenty-four; as a man of twenty-four
सर्वान्sarvānall; all
वेदान्vedānthe Vedas; the sacred knowledges
अधीत्यadhītyahaving studied (adhi + √i); having studied; having gone through them
महामनाःmahāmanāḥswollen in mind (mahā-manas — 'high-minded'); arrogant; puffed up
अनूचानमानीanūcānamānīthinking himself learned (anūcāna-mānin); deeming himself a scholar; supposing himself erudite
स्तब्धःstabdhaḥstiff-necked (stabdha — 'rigid, unbending'); starchy; arrogant
एयायeyāyahe came back (perfect of √i); he came back; he returned
तम्tamit; that one
हhaindeed; surely
पिताpitāthe father; the parent
उवाचuvācahe said; He spoke
Translation
Having entered as a pupil at twelve, he returned at twenty-four, having studied all the Vedas — proud of mind, thinking himself learned, stiff-necked. And his father said to him:
Version
9c923c0ab100 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:34:59 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Twelve years is the full course: "all the Vedas" studied, the term served, the form faultlessly fulfilled. And the fruit is enumerated in three merciless words: mahāmanāḥ, proud of mind; anūcāna-mānī, "fancying himself learned" (fancying! — the Upaniṣad does not grant him the learning, only the opinion of it); stabdhaḥ, "stiffened", unbending. Knowledge that has not touched the heart has yielded the worst of harvests — a starched self-assurance.
This is an exact portrait of the disease the tradition calls the pride of learning, and the diagnosis is everywhere the same: where "I know" has grown up, there is no room left for learning. The Gītā requires the opposite marks of knowledge: amānitvam adambhitvam — "absence of conceit, absence of pretence" (BG 13.8); knowledge without humility is not knowledge but its effigy. The father sees straight through his son — and begins not with a reproach but with a question that will blow this arrogance away at a breath.