Upanishads · Mahā 5.160
॥
Devanāgarī
अदृष्टपारपर्यन्ते प्रथमं किं भवेदिति इति चिन्तितवान्ब्रह्मा सद्यो जातामलात्मदृक्
Transliteration (IAST)
adṛṣṭapāraparyante prathamaṃ kiṃ bhavediti iti cintitavānbrahmā sadyo jātāmalātmadṛk
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अदृष्ट-पार-पर्यन्तेadṛṣṭa-pāra-paryantein that whose farther bounds are unseen; in that whose limits are not beheld
प्रथमम् किम् भवेत् इतिprathamam kim bhavet iti“what here would be first?”; “what might come first?”
इति चिन्तितवान् ब्रह्माiti cintitavān brahmāso pondered Brahmā; thus reflected Brahmā
सद्यः जात-अमल-आत्म-दृक्sadyaḥ jāta-amala-ātma-dṛkat once gaining the stainless sight of himself; instantly acquiring the immaculate vision of self
Translation
“…in that whose bounds are unseen — ‘what here is first?’ So pondered Brahmā, and at once there arose in him the stainless sight of himself.”
Version
ce986738a9c2 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Brahmā's question: prathamaṃ kiṃ bhavet — “what here is first?”.
The question of origin — the very one the teacher forbade Nidāgha in 5.114.
Note that Brahmā receives the answer not by reasoning. Sadyaḥ jāta-amala-ātma-dṛk — “at once the stainless sight of himself was born”.
He did not find out what was first. He saw himself.
And that is the only possible answer to the question of the beginning: look at the one who asks.
Recall 4.20, where inquiry begins with two questions, and the first of them is ko'ham, “who am I?”.
That the world's first being began not with “who am I” but with “what is first”, and received in answer the sight of himself, is a lesson for the reader too.