Upanishads · Jābāla 2
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ हैनमत्रिः पप्रच्छ याज्ञवल्क्यं य एषोऽनन्तोऽव्यक्त आत्मा तं कथमहं विजानीयामिति । स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः सोऽविमुक्त उपास्यो य एषोऽनन्तोऽव्यक्त आत्मा सोऽविमुक्ते प्रतिष्ठित इति
Transliteration (IAST)
atha hainamatriḥ papraccha yājñavalkyaṃ ya eṣo'nanto'vyakta ātmā taṃ kathamahaṃ vijānīyāmiti | sa hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ so'vimukta upāsyo ya eṣo'nanto'vyakta ātmā so'vimukte pratiṣṭhita iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ ह एनम् अत्रिः पप्रच्छatha ha enam atriḥ papracchathen Atri asked him; thereupon Atri questioned him
यः एषः अनन्तः अव्यक्तः आत्माyaḥ eṣaḥ anantaḥ avyaktaḥ ātmāhe who is the endless, unmanifest Ātman; that one who is boundless, invisible — the ātman
तम् कथम् अहम् विजानीयाम् इतिtam katham aham vijānīyām itihow may I know him; how could I come to know him
सः ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यःsaḥ ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥhe said, Yājñavalkya; and Yājñavalkya spoke
सः अविमुक्तः उपास्यःsaḥ avimuktaḥ upāsyaḥhe is the avimukta, he is to be honoured; this avimukta is to be worshipped
सः अविमुक्ते प्रतिष्ठितः इतिsaḥ avimukte pratiṣṭhitaḥ itihe is established in the avimukta; he is founded in the avimukta
Translation
Then Atri asked him: “He who is the endless, unmanifest Ātman — how may I know him?” Yājñavalkya said: “He is the avimukta, and he is to be honoured; that endless, unmanifest Ātman is established in the avimukta.”
Version
d4d577df01c4 · published Jul 29, 2026, 2:53:35 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second questioner is Atri, one of the seven great ṛṣis — and his question is the most human in the whole book.
He does not ask what the Highest is: he has already listed that, and listed it correctly — the endless, unmanifest Ātman.
He asks: how may I know him?
The whole point is in that “I”. The definitions are known; what to do with them is not.
The answer is given in a single word: avimukta. And it is placed here differently than in the first paragraph. There the unforsaken was a place; here it is said saḥ avimuktaḥ — “he is the avimukta”, in the masculine, of the Ātman.
And at once it is added: “established in the avimukta” — that is, in the place.
So one and the same word names both the One who is sought and the spot where He stands. And so it must be with a name that means “the unforsaken”: the One who never forsakes and the never-forsaken place are one.
The next paragraph will press the question of this place ever more exactly, query by query — and will lead from geography to the body.