Upanishads · Mahāvākya p4
॥
Devanāgarī
संसृतिबन्धमोक्षयोर्विद्याविद्ये चक्षुषी उपसंहृत्य विज्ञायाविद्यालोकाण्डस्तमोदृक्
Transliteration (IAST)
saṃsṛtibandhamokṣayorvidyāvidye cakṣuṣī upasaṃhṛtya vijñāyāvidyālokāṇḍastamodṛk
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
संसृति-बन्ध-मोक्षयोःsaṃsṛti-bandha-mokṣayoḥof the bonds of the round of rebirth and of liberation
विद्या-अविद्ये चक्षुषीvidyā-avidye cakṣuṣīknowledge and ignorance are the two eyes
उपसंहृत्य विज्ञायupasaṃhṛtya vijñāyahaving drawn them together, having known
अविद्या-लोक-अण्डः तमः-दृक्avidyā-loka-aṇḍaḥ tamaḥ-dṛkthe world of ignorance is an egg, seen as darkness
Translation
«Of the bonds of the round of rebirth and of liberation, knowledge and ignorance are the two eyes; having drawn them together and known them, [it is seen that] the world of ignorance is an egg, seen as darkness.»
Version
7fa3561f3d0f · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An image is given, worth examining: knowledge and ignorance are called cakṣuṣī, “two eyes.” That is, they are not set against each other as truth and falsehood, but set forth as two ways of seeing: with one eye one sees bondage, with the other, liberation. This image is not new in the upaniṣads, and goes back to the Īśā Upaniṣad, which says something at first strange: “into darkness enter those who honor ignorance; into still greater darkness, those who delight in knowledge” (9).
This verse usually causes puzzlement, and it is worth saying how it is read. The Īśā continues: “one thing, they say, comes from knowledge, another from ignorance; thus we have heard from the wise who explained this to us” (10); and it concludes: “who knows both — knowledge and ignorance — together, by ignorance crosses over death, and by knowledge attains immortality” (11). That is, both eyes are required, not one.
This is read as follows: avidyā here means not delusion, but action in the world — deeds, rite, duties; vidyā — knowledge of the imperishable. And it is said: by deeds alone one is not saved, nor by knowledge alone; both are needed. The Vaiṣṇava side holds the same and states it in the verse of the Bhāgavatam cited reading the Jābāla-darśana (6.12): knowledge without attachment, and deeds without devotion, do not adorn; devotion, however, is effective without either.
The relation turns out thus: the two eyes see, but it is not they themselves that see through them; and the question of who sees is the chief question, to which the book now turns.