Upanishads · Kaṭharudra 10
॥
Devanāgarī
तद्विद्या विषयं ब्रह्म सत्यज्ञानसुखाद्वयम् । संसारे च गुहावाच्ये मायाज्ञानादिसंज्ञके
Transliteration (IAST)
tadvidyā viṣayaṃ brahma satyajñānasukhādvayam | saṃsāre ca guhāvācye māyājñānādisaṃjñake
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत्-विद्या-विषयं ब्रह्मtat-vidyā-viṣayaṃ brahmabrahman — the object of that knowledge
सत्य-ज्ञान-सुख-अद्वयम्satya-jñāna-sukha-advayamtruth, knowledge, happiness, non-dual
संसारे च गुहा-वाच्येsaṃsāre ca guhā-vācyeand in transmigration, called the cave
माया-अज्ञान-आदि-संज्ञकेmāyā-ajñāna-ādi-saṃjñakenamed māyā, ignorance, and the rest
Translation
Brahman is the object of that knowledge: truth, knowledge, happiness, non-dual — and in transmigration, called the cave, named māyā, ignorance, and the rest …
Version
abe926c0608c · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The definition is given by the famous formula: satya-jñāna-sukha-advaya, "truth, knowledge, happiness, non-dual." This is the well-known satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma of the Taittirīya (2.1), only "infinite" is replaced with "happiness," and advaya, "non-dual," is added at the end. On this last word the whole dispute rests, and it is worth saying precisely what the Vaiṣṇava side accepts in it, and what not.
What she accepts is this: there is no second Brahman. There are not two supremes, no rival, no equal; and everything that exists is from Him and belongs to Him. In this sense advaya is true, and the Bhāgavatam itself says: advayaṃ jñānam, "non-dual knowledge" (1.2.11) — and immediately adds that it is called "Brahman, Paramātman, and Bhagavān," that is, three ways of seeing One.
What she does not accept is the conclusion that "non-dual" means "having nothing within itself." One thing can be both without parts and with parts; a person is one, and yet has two hands. From "there is no second" it does not follow that "there are no distinctions either"; and every time this move is made silently, the dispute is not really about the word advaya, but about what has been secretly smuggled into it.
A separate word is worth saying about the word guhā, "cave," by which transmigration is here named. Ordinarily the cave is called the heart, where the Ātman is hidden; here it is transmigration itself, in which He is hidden. Both usages hold to one image — hidden in the depths — and both presuppose one who seeks.