Upanishads · Mahā 2.32
॥
Devanāgarī
स्वयमेव मया पूर्वमभिज्ञातं विशेषतः एतदेव हि पृष्टेन पित्रा मे समुदाहृतम्
Transliteration (IAST)
svayameva mayā pūrvamabhijñātaṃ viśeṣataḥ etadeva hi pṛṣṭena pitrā me samudāhṛtam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्वयम् एव मया पूर्वम्svayam eva mayā pūrvamby myself, before; I on my own, earlier
अभिज्ञातम् विशेषतःabhijñātam viśeṣataḥexactly known; grasped in all precision
एतत् एव हि पृष्टेनetat eva hi pṛṣṭenajust this, when asked; exactly this, on being questioned
पित्रा मे समुदाहृतम्pitrā me samudāhṛtamwas set forth by my father; was expounded by my parent
Translation
“This I myself had grasped exactly before; and just this my father set forth when I asked him.”
Version
b882bfc0d7ad · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Śuka draws up the account, and the account comes out threefold.
First: he knew it himself. Second: his father said the same. Third (in the next verse): Janaka says the same, and the same stands in the śāstras.
Four independent witnesses, and all four agree.
Why does the book need this arithmetic? Because it depicts how doubt is dispelled — and it is dispelled not by argument but by the concurrence of testimonies.
Recall what Śuka lacked by verse 2.13: viśvāsa, trust. Trust is impossible toward one's own thought — you have only the one, and there is nothing to confirm it by. It arises when the same thing comes to you from outside, from the lips of one you have acknowledged as elder.
A man cannot vouch for himself. He needs a witness.