Upanishads · Kaivalya 2
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मै स होवाच पितामहश् च श्रद्धा-भक्ति-ध्यान-योगाद् अवैहि न कर्मणा न प्रजया धनेन त्यागेनैके अमृतत्वम् आनशुः
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmai sa hovāca pitāmahaś ca śraddhā-bhakti-dhyāna-yogād avaihi na karmaṇā na prajayā dhanena tyāgenaike amṛtatvam ānaśuḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मै सः ह उवाचtasmai saḥ ha uvācato him he said; to him that one spoke
पितामहः चpitāmahaḥ cathe Grandsire; the Pitāmaha
श्रद्धाभक्तिध्यानयोगात् अवैहिśraddhābhaktidhyānayogāt avaihi“by faith, bhakti and contemplation know him”; “apprehend by faith, devotion and meditation”
न कर्मणा न प्रजया धनेनna karmaṇā na prajayā dhanenanot by action, not by progeny, by wealth; neither by rite, nor by offspring, nor by riches
त्यागेन एके अमृतत्वम् आनशुःtyāgena eke amṛtatvam ānaśuḥby renunciation some attained immortality; by renunciation alone did certain ones win deathlessness
Translation
And the Grandsire answered him: “Know Him through faith, bhakti and contemplation. Not by action, not by progeny, not by wealth — by renunciation alone have some attained immortality.”
Version
10241f9a671e · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:04:38 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Brahmā's answer — the most famous verse of the whole book.
It says: śraddhā-bhakti-dhyāna-yogād avaihi — “know through faith, bhakti and contemplation”.
Three words, and their order is no accident. Śraddhā is faith, trust in what has been told; without it one does not begin. Bhakti is devotion, being turned toward Him of whom the speech is. Dhyāna is contemplation, concentrated remembrance.
Faith admits, bhakti binds, contemplation holds.
This is the passage Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa cites in the Govinda-bhāṣya when examining what “samārādhana” means — that satisfying of the Lord by which alone His vision is attained. Here he has a direct ground in śruti: the path is named not as knowledge as such, but as faith, devotion and remembrance.
Note also what is set aside: karman — the rite, prajā — progeny, dhana — wealth. These are the three things for which a householder lives; and all three are called insufficient.
The last quarter of the verse is taken from the Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad, and from the Kaivalya it passed into many books: tyāgenaike amṛtatvam ānaśuḥ — “by renunciation alone have some attained immortality”.
Tyāga is “leaving, giving over”. The word is wider than departure to the forest: it means to cease to hold. And the Vaiṣṇava Vedānta reads it in just that way — not as refusal of works, but as refusal to appropriate their fruit.