Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,2.2
॥
Devanāgarī
कुतः तु खलु सोम्य एवम् स्यात् इति ह उवाच कथम् असतः सत् जायेत सत् तु एव सोम्य इदम् अग्र आसीत् एकम् एव अद्वितीयम्
Transliteration (IAST)
kutaḥ tu khalu somya evam syāt iti ha uvāca katham asataḥ sat jāyeta sat tu eva somya idam agra āsīt ekam eva advitīyam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कुतःkutaḥwhence (kutas); how then; from what
तुtubut; surely
खलुkhalutruly; indeed
सोम्यsomyadear one; noble one
एवम्evamthus; in this way
स्यात्syātcould be; it would become
इतिitithus; how
हhaindeed; surely
उवाचuvācahe said; He spoke
कथम्kathamhow (katham); in what manner; how is it possible
असतःasataḥout of the non-existent; out of non-being
सत्satthe existent; reality
जायेतjāyetacould it be born (optative of √jan); could it come to birth; could it arise
सत्satthe existent; reality
तुtubut; surely
एवevaindeed; surely
सोम्यsomyadear one; noble one
इदम्idamthis; thus
अग्रagraat the outset; before
आसीत्āsītwas; existed
एकम्ekamone; single
एवevaindeed; surely
अद्वितीयम्advitīyamwithout a second; without duality
Translation
But how, my dear, could that be? — said he. — How could being be born from non-being? No: Being, my dear, was this in the beginning — one only, without a second.
Version
fce7c54bee6d · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:36:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The refutation is laid into a single question: katham asataḥ saj jāyeta — "how could being be born from non-being?" Out of nothing there comes no something: non-being has neither power to bring forth, nor material, nor will — the very words "would be born" already ascribe to nothing a capacity, that is, a being. The argument is as simple as a blow of a staff, and all later Vedānta builds upon it its doctrine of the unborn cause (cf. BG 2.16: "of the non-existent there is no being, of the existent no non-being").
The beginning, then, is not empty but full. The world grew not out of a zero but out of Fullness: oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idam — "that is full, this is full". Behind the cold logic stands the warm truth by which all bhakti breathes: being has a living Source; we come not out of the darkness of nothing but out of the overflow of Being, which — as the Upaniṣad will now say — desired to become many.