Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 4.46
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं यो ह वै श्रीरामचन्द्रः स भगवान् यो विज्ञानात्मा भूर्भुवः सुवस्तस्मै वै नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ yo ha vai śrīrāmacandraḥ sa bhagavān yo vijñānātmā 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
यः विज्ञानात्माyaḥ vijñānātmāwho is the Ātman of discerning knowledge; the one who is the vijñānātman
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 he who is the Ātman of discerning knowledge. Earth, mid-air, heaven! To him be bow upon bow.
Version
7d32b6428a86 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
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The forty-sixth mantra names the vijñānātmā — “the Ātman of discerning knowledge”.
The prefix vi- in the word vijñāna means division: this is knowledge that discerns, that separates one thing from another. As distinct from jñāna — knowledge as such.
In Vedānta this word most often names the soul in its cognising state: the one that stands before objects and sorts them.
Thus the three last mantras build a ladder: the forty-fifth — the Highest Ātman, the forty-sixth — the cognising one, the forty-seventh will name the one savour of being-consciousness-bliss.
That is, from Him who is with everyone — to that by which everyone cognises — and to that which is beyond both.
Note something else too. The fifth paragraph of the fifth Upaniṣad of the pūrva named among the four ātmans the jñānātman, “the Ātman of knowledge”. Here stands the vijñānātman.
The difference is in the prefix, but it marks a whole step: knowledge undivided and knowledge dividing.