Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 5.31
॥
Devanāgarī
तदेतदृचाभ्युक्तम् - ऋचो अक्षरे परमे व्योमन् यस्मिन् देवा अधि विश्वे निषेदुः । यस्तन्न वेद किमृचा करिष्यति य इत्तद् विदुस्त इमे समासते
Transliteration (IAST)
tadetadṛcābhyuktam - ṛco akṣare parame vyoman yasmin devā adhi viśve niṣeduḥ | yastanna veda kimṛcā kariṣyati ya ittad vidusta ime samāsate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत् एतत् ऋचा अभ्युक्तम्tat etat ṛcā abhyuktamthis is expressed by a ṛc; this is declared by the hymn
ऋचः अक्षरे परमे व्योमन्ṛcaḥ akṣare parame vyomanthe ṛcs are in the imperishable, highest heaven; the hymns are in the undecaying supernal space
यस्मिन् देवाः अधि विश्वे निषेदुःyasmin devāḥ adhi viśve niṣeduḥin which all the gods are seated; where all the celestials took their seat
यः तत् न वेदyaḥ tat na vedawho does not know that; the one not knowing that
किम् ऋचा करिष्यतिkim ṛcā kariṣyatiwhat will he do with the ṛc; what use to him is the hymn
ये इत् तत् विदुःye it tat viduḥbut those who know that; those, though, who know it
ते इमे समासतेte ime samāsatethey sit here together; here they abide side by side
Translation
This is expressed by a ṛc too: “The ṛcs are in the imperishable, highest heaven, in which all the gods are seated. Who does not know that — what will he do with the ṛc? But those who know that, they sit here together.”
Version
205c583e9bdd · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The book ends with that with which all Vedic literature began: ṛcs from the Ṛg-veda are cited.
The first is the famous verse that the ṛcs abide “in the imperishable, highest heaven”. The word akṣara means both “the imperishable” and “the syllable”; and this double sense works here: the hymns live in the syllable that does not perish.
Then — a question that sounds like a reproach: yas tan na veda kim ṛcā kariṣyati — “who does not know that, what is the ṛc to him?”
That is, one can know all the hymns and not know that in which they abide. Knowledge of words is not knowledge.
This is the book's last word about itself. It has given the name, the form, the diagram, the mantra, the list of sins and promises; and now it warns: all this is for nothing if That has not been known.
And the verse ends unexpectedly peaceably: ya it tad vidus ta ime samāsate — “but those who know that, they here abide”.
Samāsate means “they sit together, abide in assembly”. Not “they merge” and not “they vanish”: they sit together.
The knowers have not dissolved. They are together — and they are here.