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Upanishads · Sarasvatīrahasya 3.10
॥
Devanāgarī
अश्रुतो बुध्यते ग्रन्थः प्रायः सारस्वतः कविः । इत्येवं निश्चयं विप्राः सा होवाच सरस्वती
Transliteration (IAST)
aśruto budhyate granthaḥ prāyaḥ sārasvataḥ kaviḥ | ityevaṃ niścayaṃ viprāḥ sā hovāca sarasvatī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अ-श्रुतः बुध्यते ग्रन्थःa-śrutaḥ budhyate granthaḥan unheard book is understood
प्रायः सारस्वतः कविःprāyaḥ sārasvataḥ kaviḥby the sārasvata poet, usually
इति एवं निश्चयं विप्राःiti evaṃ niścayaṃ viprāḥsuch is the confirmation, O vipras
सा ह उवाच सरस्वतीsā ha uvāca sarasvatīthus said Sarasvatī
Translation
An unheard book is understood — such, usually, is the sārasvata poet. Such is the confirmation, O vipras. Thus said Sarasvatī.
Version
400acc177475 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The hymn ends, and it is worth noting the promised sign: aśruto budhyate granthaḥ, "an unheard book is understood." That is, the sign of the gift is named as this: a person understands the unfamiliar at once, takes up a book he never studied and reads it as familiar. This sign, to my mind, is precisely chosen, and it is worth saying why.
It is verifiable: unlike inner states, it can be tested — give an unfamiliar text and observe. And it cannot be faked: the ability to understand on the spot either exists or it does not. Let us add the last words: sā hovāca sarasvatī, "thus said Sarasvatī."
This is a transition: until now Āśvalāyana was speaking, and from here to the end of the book the goddess herself will speak. It is worth saying in advance what she will say, for it changes the whole book. She will set out the teaching of the reflection of consciousness, of the two powers of māyā, of the fivefold composition of every thing — and will end by saying that both the living being and the Lord are fabrications.
That is, the book, which began as a hymn to the goddess of speech, will end as a condensed exposition of non-dual Vedānta; and its last twenty-three verses are, in essence, an extract from Vidyāraṇya's fourteenth-century Pañcadaśī. We will examine them one by one, for here our dispute is conducted in its purest form — against the most compressed exposition this school has given.