Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 1.16
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वव्यापिनम् आत्मानं क्षीरे सर्पिर् इवार्पितम् ।
आत्मविद्यातपोमूलं तद् ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परं तद् ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परम्
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvavyāpinam ātmānaṃ kṣīre sarpir ivārpitam /
ātmavidyātapomūlaṃ tad brahmopaniṣatparaṃ tad brahmopaniṣatparam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वव्यापिनम्sarvavyāpinamthe all-pervading; penetrating everything
आत्मानम्ātmānamĀtman; Him, the highest Soul
क्षीरेkṣīrein milk; within milk
सर्पिःsarpiḥclarified butter; ghee
इवivaas; like
अर्पितम्arpitamdeposited; placed within
आत्मविद्यातपोमूलम्ātmavidyātapomūlamrooted in self-knowledge and austerity; whose root is self-knowledge and tapas
तत्tatthat; this very thing
ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परम्brahmopaniṣatparamthe highest in the Upaniṣad about Brahman; the ultimate secret of the teaching of Brahman
Translation
The all-pervading Ātman, deposited in everything as butter is in milk, rooted in self-knowledge and austerity — that is the highest in the Upaniṣad about Brahman; that is the highest in the Upaniṣad about Brahman.
Version
d493f71b6245 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
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The closing mantra of the adhyāya repeats the image and changes its scale. Before, four hiding places were spoken of — seed, curds, riverbed, wood; now the hiding place is one and it is universal: butter in milk. Butter does not lie in milk as a separate layer, it cannot be lifted out with a spoon; it is diffused through every drop — and yet it is not milk.
By this the chief word of the mantra is said: sarva-vyāpin, "all-pervading". God is not placed at one point of the world from which He governs the rest; He is deposited, arpita, in everything, and there is no thing where He is not. But, as butter is not milk, He is not the world: all-pervasion does not cancel distinction.
The second half returns to the means, lest all-pervasion be taken for easiness. "Rooted in self-knowledge and austerity": butter is spread everywhere, but it is churned in one place — where labour has been applied. Knowledge and tapas are called the root, mūla, that from which vision grows.
The last words — brahmopaniṣat-param — are usually rendered "the highest secret of the teaching of Brahman". The word "upaniṣad" stands here in its original sense: a secret teaching handed to the pupil who sits close by.
And note the repetition at the end: the line is said twice. This is an ancient sign of the close of a section — so a full stop is set in śruti. The first adhyāya is finished: the questions have been asked, the false answers sifted and rejected, the Power and its Owner named, the eternal triad enumerated, and the manner of extraction indicated — the body as araṇi, OṀ as the stick, contemplation as the friction.