Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 3.9
॥
Devanāgarī
यस्मात् परं नापरम् अस्ति किंचिद् यस्मान् नाणीयो न ज्यायो ऽस्ति किंचित् ।
वृक्ष इव स्तब्धो दिवि तिष्ठत्य् एकस् तेनेदं पूर्णं पुरुषेण सर्वम्
Transliteration (IAST)
yasmāt paraṃ nāparam asti kiṃcid yasmān nāṇīyo na jyāyo 'sti kiṃcit /
vṛkṣa iva stabdho divi tiṣṭhaty ekas tenedaṃ pūrṇaṃ puruṣeṇa sarvam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यस्मात् परम्yasmāt paramthan whom higher; than whom above
न अपरम् अस्ति किंचित्na aparam asti kiṃcitthere is nothing else; there is no other
यस्मात्yasmātthan whom; than which
न अणीयःna aṇīyaḥnothing smaller; nothing is less
न ज्यायः अस्ति किंचित्na jyāyaḥ asti kiṃcitand nothing greater; and nothing is more
वृक्षः इवvṛkṣaḥ ivalike a tree; as a tree
स्तब्धःstabdhaḥunmoving; rooted and standing
दिविdiviin heaven; on high
तिष्ठतिtiṣṭhatistands; abides
एकःekaḥone; He alone
तेनtenaby Him; by this
इदम् पूर्णम्idam pūrṇamall this is full; everything is filled
पुरुषेणpuruṣeṇaby the Puruṣa; by the Person
सर्वम्sarvameverything; the whole of it
Translation
He than whom there is nothing else higher, than whom nothing is smaller and nothing greater — He, one, stands unmoving in heaven like a tree; and by Him, the Puruṣa, all this is filled.
Version
966c2452cefe · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The mantra locks the height from three sides at once. There is nothing higher than He; nothing smaller than He and nothing greater. The last sounds odd until one sees that what is denied is the very possibility of comparison: He does not fit on the scale of magnitudes where things are measured against one another.
The image chosen is unexpected: "like a tree, He stands unmoving in heaven". A tree is rooted and does not walk; everything moves around it — wind, seasons, birds. So too the Lord: the world revolves, and He is motionless. And in the same image there is a second sense: a tree feeds and shelters everything around it.
The second half gives the conclusion: "by Him all this is filled". The word pūrṇa, "full", is the same as in the famous "that is full, this is full". The world is neither empty nor self-sufficient; it is full of Him, and the fullness is not mechanical but personal: what fills is a puruṣa, a Person.
Baladeva cites this mantra beside the previous one to show that in the Śvetāśvatara there is no ladder of deities above God: those who read "what is higher than that" as pointing to something beyond Him are contradicting this very verse, where the height is shut fast.