Upanishads · Rudrahṛdaya 31
॥
Devanāgarī
यत्तदद्रेश्यमग्राह्यमगोत्रं रूपवर्जितम् । अचक्षुःश्रोत्रमत्यर्थं तदपाणिपदं तथा
Transliteration (IAST)
yattadadreśyamagrāhyamagotraṃ rūpavarjitam | acakṣuḥśrotramatyarthaṃ tadapāṇipadaṃ tathā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत् तत् अ-दृश्यम् अ-ग्राह्यम्yat tat a-dṛśyam a-grāhyamthat which is unseen, unseizable
अ-गोत्रं रूप-वर्जितम्a-gotraṃ rūpa-varjitamwithout lineage, devoid of form
अ-चक्षुः-श्रोत्रम् अत्यर्थम्a-cakṣuḥ-śrotram atyarthamwithout eyes and ears, beyond measure
तत् अ-पाणि-पदं तथाtat a-pāṇi-padaṃ tathāthat is without hands and feet as well
Translation
"That which is unseen, unseizable, without lineage, devoid of form, without eyes and ears, beyond measure, that is without hands and feet as well …"
Version
2960e2252813 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The famous passage of the Muṇḍaka (1.1.6) is cited, and it is the longest chain of negations in this whole collection: unseen, unseizable, without lineage, without form, without eyes, without ears, without hands, without feet. Here one must answer not by negating the negations, but by asking what they negate; and the Vaiṣṇava teachers have always answered this passage the same way. What is negated is our constitution. A person's eyes see and hands take, and one does not replace the other: the eye does not take, the hand does not see. Our limbs are instruments, and each is fit for its own task.
And it is said: He has none of these. It is not said that He does not see and does not take — it is said that He has none of our instruments. And the next line of the same Muṇḍaka, omitted here, says: "He sees all" and "hears all."
The Śvetāśvatara states this without circumlocution, and it is worth citing: "without hands and feet He is swift and takes; without eyes He sees; without ears He hears" (3.19). Here both assertions stand in one verse, and the second explains the first: no instruments — yet actions exist. The word agotra, "without lineage," adds one more thing to this. Gotra is lineage, family, descent through the father; and it is said He has none. That is, He proceeds from no one and is registered to no one's house; and this again is a negation not of person, but of dependency.