Upanishads · Mantrikā 16
॥
Devanāgarī
ब्रह्माद्यं स्थावरान्तं च पश्यन्ति ज्ञानचक्षुषः । तमेकमेव पश्यन्ति परिशुभ्रं विभुं द्विजाः
Transliteration (IAST)
brahmādyaṃ sthāvarāntaṃ ca paśyanti jñānacakṣuṣaḥ | tamekameva paśyanti pariśubhraṃ vibhuṃ dvijāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ब्रह्माद्यम् स्थावरान्तम् चbrahmādyam sthāvarāntam cafrom Brahmā to the motionless; beginning with Brahmā, ending with the unmoving
पश्यन्ति ज्ञानचक्षुषःpaśyanti jñānacakṣuṣaḥsee those who have the eye of knowledge; behold those possessed of the eye of knowing
तम् एकम् एव पश्यन्तिtam ekam eva paśyantihim alone they see; him, the one only, they contemplate
परिशुभ्रम् विभुम् द्विजाःpariśubhram vibhum dvijāḥthe all-pure, all-pervading — the twice-born; the resplendent, all-pervading one — the twice-born
Translation
From Brahmā down to the motionless see those who have the eye of knowledge; and him alone, all-pure and all-pervading, the twice-born see.
Version
9847a7ee5b4c · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:00:17 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The answer to the roll of counts: the seers see One.
First the breadth is named: brahmādyaṃ sthāvarāntam — “from Brahmā to the motionless”. From the creator above to the stone below, the whole ladder of beings.
Then — jñāna-cakṣus, “the eye of knowledge”. The phrase is from the Gītā, where Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna: “those who have the eye of knowledge see”.
And the conclusion: tam ekam eva paśyanti — “him alone they see”.
Here one must be precise, for the sentence resembles a claim that there are no differences.
Something else is said. Not “they see that all is one”, but “they see Him alone in everything”; and the subject is He, not they. The difference is as between “nothing exists but me” and “everywhere He”.
We read the same measure in the tenth verse of the Kaivalya: “he who beholds the Ātman in all beings and all beings in the Ātman”.
The epithets beside Him are pariśubhra, “all-pure”, and vibhu, “all-pervading”. Neither cancels the fact that He is precisely He.