Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,15.2
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ यदा अस्य वाक् मनसि संपद्यते मनः प्राणे प्राणः तेजसि तेजः परस्याम् देवतायाम् अथ न जानाति
Transliteration (IAST)
atha yadā asya vāk manasi saṃpadyate manaḥ prāṇe prāṇaḥ tejasi tejaḥ parasyām devatāyām atha na jānāti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथathathen (atha); then; thereupon
यदाyadāwhen (yadā); when; as soon as
अस्यasyaof this; it
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
अथathathen (atha); then; thereupon
नnanot; no
जानातिjānātiknows; he comes to know
Translation
But when his speech has entered into the mind, the mind into the breath, the breath into heat, and heat into the highest Deity — then he does not know.
Version
444aeb684a90 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:42:00 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The furling has reached its end — "he does not know": the face of a relative, a name, the very scene of farewell go out, not because the soul goes out but because the instruments of recognition have been handed in: speech, mind and breath have gone back through the proper offices, and last of all the heat departed "into the highest Deity". The silence of the dead is not an emptiness but a completed handing-over.
Twice — at 6.8.6 and here — the Upaniṣad has repeated this itinerary, both times ending with the words parasyāṁ devatāyām: at a deathbed there stands not an abyss but a Deity, and everything that departs departs into his hands. For one who knows, this changes the very room of the dying: the family ask "do you know me?" — and what is taking place is a meeting with Him who is to be recognised. Happy is he who has recognised Him beforehand: for a bhakta the last breath is not a handing-in of instruments but a rendezvous.