Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 3.19
॥
Devanāgarī
अपाणिपादो जवनो ग्रहीता पश्यत्य् अचक्षुः स शृणोत्य् अकर्णः ।
स वेत्ति वेद्यं न च तस्यास्ति वेत्ता तम् आहुर् अग्र्यं पुरुषं महान्तम्
Transliteration (IAST)
apāṇipādo javano grahītā paśyaty acakṣuḥ sa śṛṇoty akarṇaḥ /
sa vetti vedyaṃ na ca tasyāsti vettā tam āhur agryaṃ puruṣaṃ mahāntam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अपाणिपादःapāṇipādaḥwithout hands and feet; having no hands or feet
जवनःjavanaḥswift; impetuous
ग्रहीताgrahītāHe grasps; He takes hold
पश्यतिpaśyatiHe sees; He beholds
अचक्षुःacakṣuḥwithout an eye; having no eye
सःsaḥHe; He Himself
शृणोतिśṛṇotihears; attends
अकर्णःakarṇaḥwithout an ear; having no bodily hearing
सः वेत्तिsaḥ vettiHe knows; to Him is known
वेद्यम्vedyamwhat is to be known; everything knowable
न च तस्य अस्ति वेत्ताna ca tasya asti vettāand there is no knower of Him; and no one knows Him
तम् आहुःtam āhuḥHim they call; of Him they say
अग्र्यम्agryamthe first; the primordial
पुरुषम् महान्तम्puruṣam mahāntamthe great Puruṣa; the great Person
Translation
Without hands and feet — yet swift and He grasps; without an eye — yet He sees; without an ear — yet He hears. He knows everything knowable, and no one knows Him: Him they call the first, the great Puruṣa.
Version
5adf6e47f86f · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
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The mantra is built on a chain of contradictions, and each of them severs the usual link between a faculty and an organ. Without hands — yet He holds; without feet — yet He is swift; without an eye — He sees; without an ear — He hears.
The sense is not that He is deprived of everything, but that His action needs no contrivances. Our faculties are borrowed: to take, a hand is needed; to see, an eye, and with it light and distance. With Him all this is immediate.
This passage is one of the most discussed in Vedānta. The impersonalist school reads it as a proof of formlessness; the Vaiṣṇava answers that what is denied is hands and eyes made of matter — otherwise the very next line, calling Him the great Puruṣa, a Person, would be empty words. The mantra, then, does not abolish form but purifies our notion of it.
The middle of the mantra is especially remarkable: "He knows what is to be known, and no one knows Him". He is never an object; all knowledge of Him is His gift, not our capture. From here runs a straight road to what the sixth adhyāya will say: he sees Him to whom He has opened Himself.
And the epithet with which the mantra ends: agrya, "first, at the head". Not first in a count, but the One before whom there is no one.