Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 4.3
॥
Devanāgarī
त्वं स्त्री त्वं पुमान् असि त्वं कुमार उत वा कुमारी ।
त्वं जीर्णो दण्डेन वञ्चसि त्वं जातो भवसि विश्वतोमुखः
Transliteration (IAST)
tvaṃ strī tvaṃ pumān asi tvaṃ kumāra uta vā kumārī /
tvaṃ jīrṇo daṇḍena vañcasi tvaṃ jāto bhavasi viśvatomukhaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
त्वम् स्त्रीtvam strīThou art woman; Thou art the wife
त्वम् पुमान् असिtvam pumān asiThou art man; Thou art the husband too
त्वम् कुमारःtvam kumāraḥThou art a boy; Thou art the youth
उत वा कुमारीuta vā kumārīor else a girl; or indeed a maiden
त्वम् जीर्णःtvam jīrṇaḥThou art the decrepit old man; Thou art the aged one
दण्डेन वञ्चसिdaṇḍena vañcasiThou totterest with a staff; Thou hobblest leaning on a stick
त्वम् जातः भवसिtvam jātaḥ bhavasiThou art born; Thou comest into the world
विश्वतोमुखःviśvatomukhaḥfacing every way; with faces on all sides
Translation
Thou art woman and Thou art man; Thou art a boy or else a girl; Thou art the decrepit old man tottering on a staff; Thou art born, facing every way.
Version
99b0296407cb · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
After the list of elements and deities the Upaniṣad takes a step few texts dare: it finds Him in human faces, and in the most ordinary ones at that.
The enumeration is built so that no one is left out: woman and man, boy and girl, decrepit old man. None of these conditions is declared nearer to God and none further. The middle line is especially moving: "the decrepit old man tottering on a staff". Precisely this, the most helpless image, is set beside "facing every way".
Two errors must be avoided here. The first is to take this as "God simply is all these people", which would contradict 4.9, where the Wielder of māyā and the one bound by it are expressly distinguished. The second is to cheapen it into a mere metaphor. The exact sense is given by the whole Upaniṣad together: He is present in each as the inner soul (3.13), and therefore every face is a place of His presence while remaining the face of a creature.
Hence a direct consequence for living, for the sake of which the mantra seems to have been spoken: one cannot honour Him who "stands facing men" and despise men.
And the last word takes us back to 2.16: He has faces on all sides — that is, the face now before you is turned toward you not by accident.