Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,15.1
॥
Devanāgarī
पुरुषम् सोम्य उत उपतापिनम् ज्ञातयः पर्युपासते जानासि माम् जानासि माम् इति तस्य यावन् न वाक् मनसि संपद्यते मनः प्राणे प्राणः तेजसि तेजः परस्याम् देवतायाम् तावत् जानाति
Transliteration (IAST)
puruṣam somya uta upatāpinam jñātayaḥ paryupāsate jānāsi mām jānāsi mām iti tasya yāvan na vāk manasi saṃpadyate manaḥ prāṇe prāṇaḥ tejasi tejaḥ parasyām devatāyām tāvat jānāti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पुरुषम्puruṣamthe man; the Puruṣa
सोम्यsomyadear one; noble one
उतutaand now; is it that
उपतापिनम्upatāpinamone grievously ill (upatāpin — 'the suffering'); the afflicted man; of the dying man
ज्ञातयःjñātayaḥthe kinsmen (jñāti — 'the relations'); the relatives; his own people
पर्युपासतेparyupāsatethey sit round him (pari-upa + √ās); they sit around; they sit beside
जानासिjānāsido you recognize (from √jñā); do you know; do you acknowledge
माम्māmme; to me
जानासिjānāsido you recognize (from √jñā); do you know; do you acknowledge
माम्māmme; to me
इतिitithus; how
तस्यtasyait; concerning this
यावन्yāvanas long as; so long
नnanot; no
वाक्vākspeech; the word
मनसिmanasiin the mind; when the mind
संपद्यतेsaṃpadyateenters; it merges
मनःmanaḥthe mind; thinking
प्राणेprāṇein the prāṇa; when the prāṇa
प्राणःprāṇaḥthe prāṇa; the vital breath
तेजसिtejasiin the heat; in the fiery power
तेजःtejaḥthe blaze; the fiery power
परस्याम्parasyāmin the supreme; in the transcendent
देवतायाम्devatāyāmdivine power; deity
तावत्tāvatso long; so much
जानातिjānātihe knows them (from √jñā); he discerns; he comes to know
Translation
"Round a gravely sick man, my dear, his kinsmen sit and ask: 'Do you know me? Do you know me?' As long as his speech has not entered into the mind, the mind into the breath, the breath into heat, and heat into the highest Deity, he knows.
Version
6e1edfc16e3e · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:42:00 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The eighth parable is set at a deathbed, and it is drawn from life: the family lean over the dying man with their eternal "do you know me?" The father repeats the ladder of departure from 6.8.6 — speech into the mind, the mind into the breath, the breath into heat, heat into the highest Deity — but now from within, through the eyes of those sitting by: until the furling has run its course, "he knows".
The Upaniṣad is not afraid to bring its pupil to the most terrible of human sights and to continue the lesson about Being precisely there. For the family's question is deeper than they know: "do you know me?" is the last thing the world asks of a man, and the answer depends on what he came to know while he lived. Dying is an examination in recognition, and one prepares for it by a whole life of remembrance: yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvam — "whatever state a man remembers as he leaves the body, that he attains" (BG 8.6).