Upanishads · Brahma 4.14
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वव्यापिनमात्मानं क्षीरे सर्पिरिवार्पितम् । आत्मविद्यातपोमूलं तद्ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परम् । सर्वात्मैकत्वरूपेण तद्ब्रह्मोपनिषत्परमिति
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvavyāpinamātmānaṃ kṣīre sarpirivārpitam | ātmavidyātapomūlaṃ tadbrahmopaniṣatparam | sarvātmaikatvarūpeṇa tadbrahmopaniṣatparamiti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वव्यापिनम् आत्मानम्sarvavyāpinam ātmānamthe all-pervading Ātman; the omnipresent ātman
क्षीरे सर्पिः इव अर्पितम्kṣīre sarpiḥ iva arpitamas ghee laid up in milk; like ghee poured into milk
आत्मविद्यातपोमूलम्ātmavidyātapomūlamrooted in Ātman-knowledge and austerity; grounded in ātmavidyā and tapas
तत् ब्रह्मोपनिषत् परम्tat brahmopaniṣat paramthat is the highest upaniṣad of Brahman; this is the supreme brahmopaniṣad
सर्वात्मैकत्वरूपेणsarvātmaikatvarūpeṇain the form of oneness with all Ātmans; in the shape of the unity of all ātmans
तत् ब्रह्मोपनिषत् परम् इतिtat brahmopaniṣat param itithat is the highest upaniṣad of Brahman; such is the supreme brahmopaniṣad
Translation
The all-pervading Ātman, laid up like ghee in milk — that whose root is the knowledge of the Ātman and austerity — that is the highest upaniṣad of Brahman; in the form of oneness with all Ātmans, that is the highest upaniṣad of Brahman.
Version
64e9e8708ab7 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:09:07 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The last verse, and it repeats its close twice, as the end of an upaniṣad is always repeated.
The simile is from the Śvetāśvatara: sarpir iva arpitam, “like ghee laid up in milk”.
The ghee is in the milk, but it cannot be seen; to obtain it, one must churn. The same series of similes as in the seventh verse: sesame, curds, streams, fire-sticks.
Then: ātma-vidyā-tapo-mūlam — “whose root is the knowledge of the Ātman and austerity”.
Two words, and both already stood in the seventh verse, only there they were “truth and austerity”. The book holds to this pair to the end.
And the last: sarvātmaikatva-rūpeṇa — “in the form of oneness with all Ātmans”.
Let us look back at the book. It began with the question of how those established in the city of Brahman create, and answered: the breath is the Ātman, and He rules as the king of bees. Then it laid out the four states and the four gods attached to them. Then for ten verses it argued that the real thread is knowledge, and at once added the proviso that he who has the rite must wear the outer one too. Then it reduced the sandhyā to contemplation and gave the renounced their own. And it ended with Him laid up in everything, as ghee in milk.
The book has reached us in poor repair, and many of its places are dark. But what it was written for reads clearly: the sign is worth what it points to — and yet the signpost is not thrown away while the road is still being walked.