Upanishads · Kaṭharudra 12
॥
Devanāgarī
प्रत्यगात्मानमज्ञानमायाशक्तेश्च साक्षिणम् । एकं ब्रह्माहमस्मीति ब्रह्मैव भवति स्वयम्
Transliteration (IAST)
pratyagātmānamajñānamāyāśakteśca sākṣiṇam | ekaṃ brahmāhamasmīti brahmaiva bhavati svayam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
प्रत्यक्-आत्मानम्pratyak-ātmānamthe inner self
अ-ज्ञान-माया-शक्तेः च साक्षिणम्a-jñāna-māyā-śakteḥ ca sākṣiṇamand the witness of the power of ignorance and māyā
एकं ब्रह्म अहम् अस्मि इतिekaṃ brahma aham asmi iti"the one Brahman am I"
ब्रह्म एव भवति स्वयम्brahma eva bhavati svayambecomes Brahman itself
Translation
The inner self, and the witness of the power of ignorance and māyā — "the one Brahman am I": [thus the knower] himself becomes Brahman.
Version
baf39681cfb7 · published Aug 7, 2026, 1:56:05 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is the formula for whose sake such books are written: ekaṃ brahmāham asmi, "the one Brahman am I" — and the consequence: brahmaiva bhavati svayam, "himself becomes Brahman." One must answer it not by disputing the words themselves, but by examining what is said in them; and it is most convenient to examine it by this very verse, for the answer is contained in it too. It is said in the first half: the one to be known is sākṣin, "the witness" of the power of ignorance and māyā. A witness, as noted when reading the eighth line, is one who looks at something else: he has an object of observation — and here it is even named which one — ignorance and māyā.
And in the second half it is said: bhavati, "becomes." Not "is," but becomes; and this verb refutes itself as an assertion of identity. One becomes what one was not; the identical has no need and no way to become itself.
Hence the Vaiṣṇava side interprets such passages this way, and this interpretation is not a strain but a direct reading. "I am Brahman" means: I am of the same nature — conscious, eternal, not a thing; and "becomes Brahman" means: comes into a state answering to this nature. Between "I am of the same nature" and "I am the same person" lies the whole difference, and a verse that says bhavati stands on the first side, not the second.
One more thing: pratyag-ātman, "the inner self," literally "turned inward." This word was discussed when reading the Tripurā-tāpanī (92), where the limit was called pratyag-ānandam brahma-puruṣam — "the inward bliss, Brahman-the-Person."