Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 2.16
॥
Devanāgarī
एष ह देवः प्रदिशो ऽनु सर्वाः पूर्वो ह जातः स उ गर्भे अन्तः ।
स एव जातः स जनिष्यमानः प्रत्यङ् जनास् तिष्ठति सर्वतोमुखः
Transliteration (IAST)
eṣa ha devaḥ pradiśo 'nu sarvāḥ pūrvo ha jātaḥ sa u garbhe antaḥ /
sa eva jātaḥ sa janiṣyamānaḥ pratyaṅ janās tiṣṭhati sarvatomukhaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एषः हeṣaḥ hathis indeed; this very one
देवःdevaḥGod; the Deity
प्रदिशः अनु सर्वाःpradiśaḥ anu sarvāḥthrough all the quarters; in every direction
पूर्वः ह जातःpūrvaḥ ha jātaḥwas born before all; came into being first
सः उsaḥ uHe too; and He
गर्भे अन्तःgarbhe antaḥwithin the womb; in the embryo
सः एव जातःsaḥ eva jātaḥHe indeed is born; it is He who is born
सः जनिष्यमानःsaḥ janiṣyamānaḥHe will be born; He is yet to be born
प्रत्यङ्pratyaṅturned toward them; facing each one
जनाःjanāḥmen; beings
तिष्ठतिtiṣṭhatistands; abides
सर्वतोमुखःsarvatomukhaḥwith faces on all sides; whose faces are everywhere
Translation
This God is through all the quarters; He was born before all, and He too is within the womb. He has been born and He will be born; turned toward every creature, He stands with faces on all sides.
Version
4ecaad2f8f49 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
After instructions about the body, the breath and the place, the Upaniṣad widens the horizon at a stroke: He who was sought in a sheltered cave turns out to be everywhere.
The mantra deliberately collides incompatibles. He "was born before all" — and He is "within the womb", in an embryo only now taking shape. He has already been born — and He will be born. To our sense of time this is a contradiction; for the Upaniṣad it is a way of saying that He does not fit on the axis of time but holds it.
The word pratyaṅ means "turned inward" and "turned toward": He is turned with His face to every being. And at once sarvato-mukhaḥ, "having faces on all sides". The sense of this image is not anatomy but relation: from whatever side you approach, you meet a face and not a back. There is no place from which He would be seen from behind.
And this is the answer to the natural anxiety of the practitioner: is God shut up in his concentration, and will the meeting be lost when the man rises from his seat? No: concentration is needed by us in order to see, not by Him in order to come.
The closing mantra of the adhyāya will carry this thought to the end, naming the places He has entered — and will finish it all with a bow.