Upanishads · Mahā 5.57
॥
Devanāgarī
रेखोपरेखावलिता यथैका पीवरी शिला तथा त्रैलोक्यवलितं ब्रह्मैकमिह दृश्यताम्
Transliteration (IAST)
rekhoparekhāvalitā yathaikā pīvarī śilā tathā trailokyavalitaṃ brahmaikamiha dṛśyatām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
रेखा-उपरेखा-वलिताrekhā-uparekhā-valitāveined over with lines and streaks; covered with strokes and traceries
यथा एका पीवरी शिलाyathā ekā pīvarī śilālike a single massive rock; just as one bulky crag
तथा त्रैलोक्य-वलितम्tathā trailokya-valitamso, veined over with the three worlds; thus, streaked with the triple world
ब्रह्म एकम् इह दृश्यताम्brahma ekam iha dṛśyatāmlet the one Brahman be seen here; may the single Brahman be beheld in this
Translation
“As a single massive rock veined over with lines and streaks — so let the one Brahman, veined over with the three worlds, be seen here.”
Version
90d77ad4357e · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The image of the veined rock is the most successful of those by which this book explains unity and difference.
The boulder is one. The veins on it are real: they can be seen, they differ, they can be counted. And not one of them is a separate thing laid upon the stone; all of them are the stone itself.
So the three worlds upon Brahman.
Note that this image does not cancel the pattern. To say “there are no veins” would be false: they exist, and the stone without them would be another stone.
This is why Vaiṣṇava Vedānta takes such comparisons more gladly than the rope and the snake. The snake on the rope is false and vanishes; the veins in the stone are genuine and remain.
It is the same as was said in 2.7: bhedo'pi tanmayaḥ — “even the difference consists of Him”.
The word pīvarī — “massive, bulky” — is the same by which in 5.13 the fattened “I” was named. The play seems accidental; but the stone gains substance from it.