Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 3.8
॥
Devanāgarī
वेदाहम् एतं पुरुषं महान्तम् आदित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् ।
तम् एव विदित्वाति मृत्युम् एति नान्यः पन्था विद्यते ऽयनाय
Transliteration (IAST)
vedāham etaṃ puruṣaṃ mahāntam ādityavarṇaṃ tamasaḥ parastāt /
tam eva viditvāti mṛtyum eti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate 'yanāya
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वेद अहम्veda ahamI know; to me is known
एतम् पुरुषम्etam puruṣamthis Puruṣa; this Person
महान्तम्mahāntamthe great; the immense
आदित्यवर्णम्ādityavarṇamsun-coloured; of the colour of the sun
तमसः परस्तात्tamasaḥ parastātbeyond the darkness; on the far side of the gloom
तम् एव विदित्वाtam eva viditvāknowing Him alone; only on recognising Him
अति मृत्युम् एतिati mṛtyum etione passes beyond death; one crosses past death
न अन्यः पन्थाःna anyaḥ panthāḥthere is no other path; no other road exists
विद्यतेvidyateis found; is to be had
अयनायayanāyafor the passage; for going through
Translation
I know this Puruṣa, the great, sun-coloured, beyond the darkness. Knowing Him alone one passes beyond death; there is no other path for the passage.
Version
debeb3ad9e81 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
One of the most famous mantras of the Upaniṣads — and in form it is testimony, not argument: veda aham, "I know". The speaker is one who has seen.
The Puruṣa is called "sun-coloured" and "beyond the darkness", tamasaḥ parastāt. Darkness here is not the dark of night but the guṇa of ignorance and all the unmanifested matter of the world; it is said, then, that He is outside nature, not at its summit. The solar colour means self-luminosity: nothing illumines Him, everything is illumined by Him.
The second half sounds with a decisiveness rare in śruti: "there is no other path". Usually the Upaniṣads enumerate means; here it is said that the means is one — the knowing of Him. And the word ayana, "passage", hints at a road: the point is not a state of mind but a going out beyond death.
The last line is loved by commentators of every school. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa takes it in the Govinda-bhāṣya to prove the Lord's supremacy: if anything stood above Him, the words "there is no other path" would be untrue. And paired with the next mantra it gives the full formula: there is nothing above Him, and there is no going round Him.