Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 4.21
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं यो ह वै श्रीरामचन्द्रः स भगवान् या विद्या भूर्भुवः सुवस्तस्मै वै नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ yo ha vai śrīrāmacandraḥ sa bhagavān yā vidyā bhūrbhuvaḥ suvastasmai vai namo namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं यः ह वै श्रीरामचन्द्रःoṃ yaḥ ha vai śrīrāmacandraḥOṁ. He who is Śrī-Rāmacandra; Oṁ. The very one who is Śrī-Rāmacandra
सः भगवान्saḥ bhagavānhe is the Lord; he indeed is Bhagavān
या विद्याyā vidyāwhich is knowledge; that which is vidyā
भूर्भुवः सुवःbhūrbhuvaḥ suvaḥearth, mid-air, heaven; bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ
तस्मै वै नमः नमःtasmai vai namaḥ namaḥto him be bow upon bow; to him worship and worship
Translation
Oṁ. He who is Śrī-Rāmacandra — He is the Lord, and He is that which is knowledge. Earth, mid-air, heaven! To him be bow upon bow.
Version
3a093a7cf5a3 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
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The twenty-first mantra names vidyā — “knowledge, knowing”.
This word in Vedānta means not erudition but the knowledge by which unknowing is removed. Against it stands avidyā, and from her is all the trouble of the living.
We met the pair vidyā—māyā in the fifth paragraph of the fifth Upaniṣad of the pūrva, where both were revered at the sides of the throne.
Here it is said: knowledge is He.
Consider what this changes. Usually knowledge is held a means: one uses it to learn something. But if knowledge is He, it is no tool in our hands but His presence in us.
Hence the whole difference between “I understood” and “it was opened to me”.
And hence too why in these books knowledge is transmitted, not procured: it cannot be taken as information is taken.
The next four mantras will name feminine names, and the first of them will be Sarasvatī — the goddess of knowledge herself.