Upanishads · Parabrahma 1.14
॥
Devanāgarī
न सन्नासन्न सदसद्भिन्नाभिन्नं न चोभयम् । न सभागं न निर्भागं न चाप्युभयरूपकम्
Transliteration (IAST)
na sannāsanna sadasadbhinnābhinnaṃ na cobhayam | na sabhāgaṃ na nirbhāgaṃ na cāpyubhayarūpakam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न सत् न अ-सत्na sat na a-satneither being nor non-being
न सत्-अ-सत्na sat-a-satnor being-and-non-being
भिन्न-अ-भिन्नं न च उभयम्bhinna-a-bhinnaṃ na ca ubhayamneither different nor non-different, nor both
न स-भागं न निर्-भागंna sa-bhāgaṃ na nir-bhāgaṃneither with parts nor without parts
न च अपि उभय-रूपकम्na ca api ubhaya-rūpakamand not having the form of both
Translation
Neither being, nor non-being, nor being-and-non-being; neither different, nor non-different, nor both together; neither with parts, nor without parts, nor having the form of both.
Version
e3a59a455659 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A verse of negations, and it is built specially: all four possibilities are denied at once. This construction in Indian literature is called catuṣkoṭi, "the four corners": is; is not; both is and is not; neither is nor is not. Every judgment is placed under one of the four, and to deny all four means: the judgment does not apply at all.
It is worth noting what is denied in the second line: bhinna-abhinnam na ca ubhayam, "neither different, nor non-different, nor both." That is, all three Vedāntic positions are rejected at once — bheda, abheda, and bheda-abheda. This matters and deserves noting before reading the next line. In rejecting abheda, the book thereby rejects Advaita too; and the next line will confirm this directly.
The Vaiṣṇava reading treats such a negation not as a dead end, but as a pointer to inconceivability. The Vaiṣṇava school is itself called acintya-bheda-abheda: difference and non-difference at once, and moreover inconceivable — that is, not fitting into the four corners. The word acintya here means exactly what this verse says: not to be measured by the ordinary reckoning; and this verse, by denying all four corners, indirectly affirms a fifth, about which it says nothing at all.