Upanishads · Kaivalya 16
॥
Devanāgarī
यत् परं ब्रह्म सर्वात्मा विश्वस्यायतनं महत् सूक्ष्मात् सूक्ष्मतरं नित्यं तत् त्वम् एव त्वम् एव तत्
Transliteration (IAST)
yat paraṃ brahma sarvātmā viśvasyāyatanaṃ mahat sūkṣmāt sūkṣmataraṃ nityaṃ tat tvam eva tvam eva tat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत् परम् ब्रह्म सर्वात्माyat param brahma sarvātmāwhich is the highest Brahman, the Self of all; that which is the supreme Brahman, the soul of all
विश्वस्य आयतनम् महत्viśvasya āyatanam mahatthe great dwelling-place of the universe; the vast abode of the world
सूक्ष्मात् सूक्ष्मतरम् नित्यम्sūkṣmāt sūkṣmataram nityamsubtler than the subtle, eternal; finer than the fine, undecaying
तत् त्वम् एवtat tvam evathat thou art; it is thou
त्वम् एव तत्tvam eva tatthou art that; thou art it
Translation
That which is the highest Brahman, the Self of all, the great dwelling-place of the universe, subtler than the subtle, eternal — that thou art, and thou art that.
Version
bde7113ade8e · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:04:38 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The book's most famous verse: tat tvam eva tvam eva tat — “that thou art, and thou art that”.
It is an echo of the great saying of the Chāndogya — tat tvam asi, “that thou art” — which Uddālaka repeated nine times to his son. Here it is doubled: said in one direction, then in the other.
The doubling is not rhetoric, and it deserves a pause.
Were this a plain identity, the second half would be needless: identity is reversible of itself. Its addition shows that something else is meant — mutual belonging.
The Vaiṣṇava Vedānta reads such sayings as asserting oneness of essence with distinction of persons: my nature is His nature, I am conscious as He is, and therefore “that thou art”; but I am not He, and therefore He remains the One who is addressed.
This book itself confirms such a reading. In the first verse Āśvalāyana asked to be brought to “the Puruṣa higher than the high”; in the seventh the Lord with Umā was contemplated; in the twenty-fourth the repetition of the Śatarudriya will be enjoined.
One does not travel to oneself, contemplate oneself, or recite hymns to oneself.
Note the epithets: sūkṣmāt sūkṣmataram — “subtler than the subtle” — and viśvasya āyatanam mahat, “the great dwelling-place of the universe”. Again the small and the vast at once, as in the third verse it was “above heaven” and “in the secret place”.