Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 111
॥
Devanāgarī
क्षीरवत्पश्यति ज्ञानी लिङ्गिनस्तु गवां यथा ॥ 19॥ ज्ञाननेत्रं समाधाय स महत्परमं पदम् । निष्कलं निश्चलं शान्तं ब्रह्माहमिति संस्मरेत् ॥ 20॥ इत्येकं परब्रह्मरूपं सर्वभूताधिवासं तुरीयं
Transliteration (IAST)
kṣīravatpaśyati jñānī liṅginastu gavāṃ yathā || 19|| jñānanetraṃ samādhāya sa mahatparamaṃ padam | niṣkalaṃ niścalaṃ śāntaṃ brahmāhamiti saṃsmaret || 20|| ityekaṃ parabrahmarūpaṃ sarvabhūtādhivāsaṃ turīyaṃ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
गवाम् अनेक-वर्णानांgavām aneka-varṇānāṃof cows of many colors
क्षीरस्य अपि एक-वर्णताkṣīrasya api eka-varṇatāthe milk is nonetheless of one color
क्षीर-वत् पश्यति ज्ञानीkṣīra-vat paśyati jñānīlike milk, the knowing one sees
लिङ्गिनः तु गवां यथाliṅginaḥ tu gavāṃ yathābut those with marks — like cows
ब्रह्म अहम् इति संस्मरेत्brahma aham iti saṃsmaretlet him remember «Brahman is I»
Translation
«Of cows of many colors, the milk is nonetheless of one color: like milk, the knowing one sees, but those with marks — like cows. Having fixed the eye of knowledge, let him remember that great highest place — partless, unmoving, at peace — «Brahman is I»».
Version
999906ded645 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A third likeness is cited: cows of different colors, but milk of one color in all. The knower, it is said, sees the milk, while the ignorant see the cows. The likeness is beautiful, and deserves careful examination, for it proves not what it is charged with.
That the milk of all cows is one color is true; but the milk of a black cow and the milk of a red one are two different milks, poured into two pails. They are the same in property and distinct in number; and no one, having poured them together, will say there was only one. This is exactly the Vaishnava position: souls are one in essence and not one in number. Sameness of nature is not identity of person; and the likeness cited to prove oneness proves the oneness of kind, not the oneness of the individual.
Worth noting too the word liṅgin, «having a mark», by which the ignorant are named. What is meant here is a bodily mark: the coloring of a cow, the appearance of a person. One who looks at marks sees distinctions where in essence there are none — and in this the verse is entirely right. The Gītā says the same of the wise, who «see one and the same in a brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater» (5.18).
The difference between the two schools lies not in this observation, but in what is concluded from it. That the same thing is in all is acknowledged by both; but whether this means that all are one person does not follow from the observation, and the milk itself bears witness to that.