Upanishads · Parabrahma 1.15
॥
Devanāgarī
ब्रह्मात्मैकत्वविज्ञानं हेयं मिथ्यत्वकारणादिति
Transliteration (IAST)
brahmātmaikatvavijñānaṃ heyaṃ mithyatvakāraṇāditi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ब्रह्म-आत्म-एकत्व-विज्ञानंbrahma-ātma-ekatva-vijñānaṃthe realization of the oneness of brahman and the Ātman
हेयंheyaṃmust be abandoned
मिथ्यत्व-कारणात् इतिmithyatva-kāraṇāt itiby reason of its falsity
Translation
The realization of the oneness of brahman and the Ātman must be abandoned — by reason of its falsity.
Version
e8bd4c0d3b05 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
This line is short, and it deserves lingering on longer than some longer one, for it is unique in the collection of one hundred and eight. It says: brahma-ātma-ekatva-vijñānaṃ heyam, "the realization of the oneness of brahman and the Ātman must be abandoned," mithyatva-kāraṇāt, "by reason of falsity." The word heya is the gerundive of hā, "to abandon": that which is to be discarded. This word was discussed when reading the Annapūrṇā (4.47), where the pair heya-upādeya, "to be rejected and to be accepted," stands.
Let me be honest: this line can be read two ways, and both readings have been given in scholarship. The first: the very realization of oneness is to be discarded, for it is a determinate judgment, and every determinate judgment is false; and this reading follows directly from the preceding verse, where all four corners were rejected, including "non-difference." The second, more strained: by the realization of oneness [the world] is discarded as the cause of falsity. It requires supplying a subject absent from the line.
I hold to the first, and not only because it favors us. It follows from its neighbor: verse 1.14 rejected abheda; line 1.15 says that even the knowledge of ekatva is discarded. Two passages stand in succession and speak of one thing.
As for the Vaiṣṇava reading, here it coincides with the book. We say the same: identity is not the last word; it is a judgment, and an insufficient one. Behind it lies not another judgment, but a relation, and this whole book is written about that — not for nothing does it end with words about wearing the thread, that is, about whose you recognize yourself to be.