Upanishads · Kaṭharudra 27
॥
Devanāgarī
तदेवाभयमत्यन्तकल्याणं परमामृतम् । सद्रूपं परमं ब्रह्म त्रिपरिच्छेदवर्जितम्
Transliteration (IAST)
tadevābhayamatyantakalyāṇaṃ paramāmṛtam | sadrūpaṃ paramaṃ brahma triparicchedavarjitam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत् एव अ-भयम् अत्यन्त-कल्याणंtat eva a-bhayam atyanta-kalyāṇaṃthat indeed is fearlessness, the extreme good
परम-अ-मृतम्parama-a-mṛtamsupreme immortality
सत्-रूपं परमं ब्रह्मsat-rūpaṃ paramaṃ brahmaof true form, the supreme brahman
त्रि-परिच्छेद-वर्जितम्tri-pariccheda-varjitamfree of the three limits
Translation
That indeed is fearlessness, the extreme good, supreme immortality, of true form, the supreme brahman, free of the three limits.
Version
3dfd7eb197b9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Abhaya, "fearlessness," is named, and this is the chief word in the Taittirīya: it is said there that one who has found support in the unseen abhayaṃ pratiṣṭhāṃ vindate, "obtains a fearless support." It is worth noting that what is promised is not bliss and not omniscience, but the absence of fear; and this is, more than any other, the definition of the limit found in the upaniṣads. This choice is precise. Ask a person what he wants, and he will name many things; but take away his fear — for his life, for his loved ones, for tomorrow — and it turns out that almost everything he wanted, he wanted for the sake of this.
The phrase tri-pariccheda-varjita, "free of the three limits," means that He is bounded neither by place, nor time, nor thing: He is not somewhere as opposed to other places, is not at some time as opposed to other times, is not one thing as opposed to others. The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this entirely and draws from it her own conclusion, worth stating. Precisely because He is not bounded by a thing, He can take on a form without ceasing to be boundless. One bounded by what he is cannot become other; one unbounded can. And so a form is His not in spite of boundlessness, but because of it.
A separate word is worth saying about the word sad-rūpa, "of true form," standing here. Again, as in the eighth line, rūpa, "form," appears among negations; and the author, apparently, felt no difficulty in this.