Upanishads · Rudrahṛdaya 44
॥
Devanāgarī
तत्त्वतश्च शिवः साक्षाच्चिज्जीवश्च स्वतः सदा । चिच्चिदाकारतो भिन्ना न भिन्ना चित्त्वहानितः
Transliteration (IAST)
tattvataśca śivaḥ sākṣāccijjīvaśca svataḥ sadā | ciccidākārato bhinnā na bhinnā cittvahānitaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत्त्वतः च शिवः साक्षात्tattvataḥ ca śivaḥ sākṣātand in essence Śiva directly
चित् जीवः च स्वतः सदाcit jīvaḥ ca svataḥ sadāis consciousness, and the jīva of himself, always
चित् चित्-आकारतः भिन्नाcit cit-ākārataḥ bhinnāconsciousness is different by the form of consciousness
न भिन्ना चित्-त्व-हानितःna bhinnā cit-tva-hānitaḥis not different — by the non-loss of consciousness-ness
Translation
"And in essence Śiva is directly consciousness, and the jīva of himself is always [consciousness]. Consciousness is distinguished by the form of consciousness, and not distinguished — by the non-loss of consciousness-ness."
Version
66b2cd1e016b · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The proof of unity begins, and it is conducted through the concept cit, "consciousness." The argument is this: both Śiva is consciousness, and the jīva is consciousness; and consciousness does not differ from consciousness, for any difference would turn one of the two into a-cit, non-consciousness, that is, into a thing. This argument is strong, and it is worth acknowledging it as strong before answering it.
Let me answer that difference is of two kinds, and it is these two that are conflated here. There is difference in kind — between consciousness and a stone; and there is difference within a kind — between one conscious being and another. From the fact that two things are of one kind, it in no way follows that they are one. Two people are human; and no one concludes from this that there is one human. The milk of a black cow and a red cow is milk, but there are two pails; this argument was discussed when reading the Kāṭharudra (111).
The verse says: if they differed, one of them would be jaḍa, "inert." But this holds only on the condition that difference can occur only by kind; yet things differ also by number, by measure, by position, and by whose is whose. The Vaiṣṇava side stands on this: souls are of one essence with Him and not one in number with Him; and the difference between them is not that one is conscious and the other not, but that one contains, and the other is contained. The previous verse of this same book says the same, where one bird tastes and the other does not: both are conscious, and the difference between them is great.