Upanishads · Gaṇapati 5.1
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वं जगदिदं त्वत्तो जायते ।सर्वं जगदिदं त्वत्तस्तिष्ठति । सर्वं जगदिदं त्वयि लयमेष्यति । सर्वं जगदिदं त्वयि प्रत्येति
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvaṃ jagadidaṃ tvatto jāyate |sarvaṃ jagadidaṃ tvattastiṣṭhati | sarvaṃ jagadidaṃ tvayi layameṣyati | sarvaṃ jagadidaṃ tvayi pratyeti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वं जगत् इदं त्वत्तः जायतेsarvaṃ jagat idaṃ tvattaḥ jāyatethis whole world is born from you
सर्वं जगत् इदं त्वत्तः तिष्ठतिsarvaṃ jagat idaṃ tvattaḥ tiṣṭhatithis whole world stands by you
त्वयि लयम् एष्यतिtvayi layam eṣyatiwill come to dissolution in you
त्वयि प्रत्येतिtvayi pratyetireturns into you
Translation
This whole world is born from you, this whole world stands by you, this whole world will come to dissolution in you, this whole world returns into you.
Version
3654e9802c10 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is set forth in four steps what the Vedānta-sūtra says in three words: janmādy asya yataḥ, "that from which the birth and so forth of this [world proceed]" (1.1.2). This definition is the first definition of the highest in the entire system of Vedānta, and it is deliberately built to suit everyone. The rival schools disagree on everything except this: that from which the world comes, in which it stands, and to which it goes is precisely the subject of discussion.
It is worth examining the four case-forms, for they do not merely repeat but move. Tvattaḥ — "from you" (ablative case, source). Tvattas tiṣṭhati — "stands by you." Tvayi layam eṣyati — "will come to dissolution in you." Tvayi pratyeti — "returns into you."
Four grammatical forms describe four relations: origin, support, end, and return. And all of them are relations of something to someone. Here lies the substance of the old dispute over causation, and it must be named. There are two ways to be a cause: upādāna, "material" (the clay for a pot), and nimitta, "efficient" (the potter). Ordinarily they belong to different persons: clay does not shape, and the potter does not become a pot.
Vedānta, however, asserts both of the highest: it is both that of which the world is made and the one who makes it. The non-dual reading escapes the difficulty thus: since the cause is one and material, the effect is merely its appearance, like a snake mistaken for a rope. The Vaiṣṇava reading differs: the cause remains a person, and the world is His śakti, a power that truly proceeds from Him and is truly distinct from Him, as light is from fire.
The image of fire and light is key here, and it is not our invention: it is taken from the Śvetāśvatara (6.14) and from the Viṣṇu-purāṇa. Light is fire — for it is nothing else; and light is not fire — for fire stays in place while light travels afar. Both statements are true, and the second does not cancel the first.