Upanishads · Mantrikā 15
॥
Devanāgarī
चतुर्विंशतिसंख्यातं व्यक्तमव्यक्तमेव च । अद्वैतं द्वैतमित्याहुस्त्रिधा तं पञ्चधा तथा
Transliteration (IAST)
caturviṃśatisaṃkhyātaṃ vyaktamavyaktameva ca | advaitaṃ dvaitamityāhustridhā taṃ pañcadhā tathā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
चतुर्विंशतिसंख्यातम्caturviṃśatisaṃkhyātamcounted as twenty-four; numbered at twenty-four
व्यक्तम् अव्यक्तम् एव चvyaktam avyaktam eva cathe manifest and the unmanifest; the evident and the unevident
अद्वैतम् द्वैतम् इति आहुःadvaitam dvaitam iti āhuḥthey call it non-dual, dual; they name it non-dual and dual
त्रिधा तम् पञ्चधा तथाtridhā tam pañcadhā tathāthreefold it, and fivefold; threefold and fivefold
Translation
Counted as twenty-four, manifest and unmanifest, they call it non-dual and dual — and threefold, and fivefold.
Version
6e386d90cf4c · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:00:17 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second passage which Baladeva cites in the Govinda-bhāṣya: the roll of counts carried to its end.
Twenty-four principles — the count of the Sāṅkhya. Manifest and unmanifest — its division too: vyakta and avyakta. Non-dual — the Vedānta; dual — the schools that distinguish soul and God. Threefold — by the three guṇas or three principles; fivefold — by the five elements or five sheaths.
Six ways of counting in one verse, and all named without dispute.
Here is the argument, and it is subtler than it looks.
The book does not say all the schools are equally right. It says they are all counting one and the same thing — and therefore the count is not the object.
Baladeva uses it thus: since śruti itself lists the counts as different approaches to One, the twenty-four principles of the Sāṅkhya are no self-standing reality; they are a way of parsing what belongs to Him.
And the next verse will say plainly what those see whose eye is the eye of knowledge.