अथातो महोपनिषदं व्याख्यास्यमस्तदाहुरेको ह वै नारायण आसीन्न ब्रह्मा नेशानो नापो नाग्नीषोमौ नेमे द्यावापृथिवी न नक्षत्राणि न सूर्यो न चन्द्रमाः स एकाकी न रमते तस्य ध्यानान्तःस्थस्य यज्ञस्तोममुच्यते तस्मिन्पुरुषाश्चतुर्दश जायन्ते एका कन्या दशेन्द्रियाणि मन एकादशं तेजः द्वादशोऽहङ्कारः त्रयोदशकः प्राणः चतुर्दश आत्मा पञ्चदशी बुद्धिः भूतानि पञ्च तन्मात्राणि पञ्च महाभूतानि स एकः पञ्चविंशतिः पुरुषः
athāto mahopaniṣadaṃ vyākhyāsyamastadāhureko ha vai nārāyaṇa āsīnna brahmā neśāno nāpo nāgnīṣomau neme dyāvāpṛthivī na nakṣatrāṇi na sūryo na candramāḥ sa ekākī na ramate tasya dhyānāntaḥsthasya yajñastomamucyate tasminpuruṣāścaturdaśa jāyante ekā kanyā daśendriyāṇi mana ekādaśaṃ tejaḥ dvādaśo'haṅkāraḥ trayodaśakaḥ prāṇaḥ caturdaśa ātmā pañcadaśī buddhiḥ bhūtāni pañca tanmātrāṇi pañca mahābhūtāni sa ekaḥ pañcaviṃśatiḥ puruṣaḥ
Now, then, let us expound the great upaniṣad. They say: one alone was Nārāyaṇa — there was neither Brahmā, nor Īśāna, nor the waters, nor Agni and Soma, nor these heaven and earth, nor the stars, nor sun, nor moon. He, solitary, does not rejoice. Of him, abiding in contemplation, the sacrificial praise is uttered; and in him are born the fourteen puruṣas and one maiden: the ten senses, the mind eleventh, fire, twelfth the selfhood, thirteenth the breath, fourteenth the Ātman, fifteenth reason, the five subtle elements, the five great elements. He alone is the twenty-fivefold Puruṣa.
5b65e87dafb6 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
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The book opens with what every tale of the beginning opens with — but with one trait found nowhere else.
First it is listed what was not: neither Brahmā, nor Īśāna, nor the waters, nor fire with soma, nor heaven and earth, nor the stars, nor sun, nor moon. The list is deliberately full, and in it are named not only the elements but the gods: Brahmā and Īśāna are not yet born.
There remains one Nārāyaṇa.
And then — four words for whose sake the whole adhyāya deserves reading: sa ekākī na ramate — “he, solitary, does not rejoice”.
Think it through. Not “was at rest”, not “abode in bliss”: did not rejoice. Solitude is named that in which there is no delight — and named of the Highest.
This is the knot of all that follows. The world begins not with an excess of power and not with law, but with this: to the One it is no joy to be alone.
The Bṛhadāraṇyaka says the same in almost the same words: “he found no delight, for one alone finds no delight.”\n Then comes the list of the twenty-five principles, and it is this that the exposition of the Vedānta-sūtra needs: the senses, the mind, selfhood, the breath, reason, the subtle and gross elements — and He the twenty-fifth. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa cites this place, disputing with the Pāśupatas over how many principles there are and whose they are.
Note how the count is built: twenty-four are enumerated, and He Himself is named the twenty-fifth. Not “above them”, but in the same count.