Upanishads · Mahā 4.56
॥
Devanāgarī
यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते यो मुक्तैरवगम्यते यस्य चात्मादिकाः संज्ञाः कल्पिता न स्वभावतः
Transliteration (IAST)
yato vāco nivartante yo muktairavagamyate yasya cātmādikāḥ saṃjñāḥ kalpitā na svabhāvataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यतः वाचः निवर्तन्तेyataḥ vācaḥ nivartantefrom whom words turn back; from whom speech retreats
यः मुक्तैः अवगम्यतेyaḥ muktaiḥ avagamyatewho is understood by the freed; whom the liberated comprehend
यस्य च आत्म-आदिकाः संज्ञाःyasya ca ātma-ādikāḥ saṃjñāḥand whose names — “Ātman” and the rest; and whose designations, “Ātman” and the others
कल्पिताः न स्वभावतःkalpitāḥ na svabhāvataḥare contrived, not from his nature; are devised, and not by his very essence
Translation
“…from whom words turn back; who is understood by the freed; whose names — ‘Ātman’ and the rest — are contrived, not given by His nature.”
Version
20a03fd5bf6a · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first line is a direct citation from the Taittirīya: “whence words turn back together with the mind, not having reached”.
The image in the original is vivid: words go toward Him and turn round, like envoys who did not arrive.
The second line adds what the Taittirīya does not have in this verse: yo muktair avagamyate — “who is understood by the freed”.
This is an essential correction. Words do not reach — yet the freed understand. So His inaccessibility to speech is not inaccessibility as such; one road is closed, not all.
The third line repeats the thought of 4.44: the names are contrived, na svabhāvataḥ — “not from His nature”.
The proviso deserves attention. It says not “He has no names”, but “these names are not from His nature”. A designation composed by us and a name revealed by Him are different things, and the book consistently cancels only the first.