Upanishads · Mahāvākya p17
॥
Devanāgarī
तमेव विद्वानमृत इह भवति । नान्यः पन्था अयनाय विद्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
tameva vidvānamṛta iha bhavati | nānyaḥ panthā ayanāya vidyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तम् एव विद्वान्tam eva vidvānhaving known Him alone
अ-मृतः इह भवतिa-mṛtaḥ iha bhavatione becomes immortal here
न अन्यः पन्थाः अयनाय विद्यतेna anyaḥ panthāḥ ayanāya vidyatethere is no other path to the end
Translation
«Having known Him alone, [a person] becomes immortal here; there is no other path to the end.»
Version
606e97aa5b86 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is the continuation of the verse whose beginning was cited above (p14); and now it can be examined in full. Three words deserve note. Tam eva, “Him alone.” The accusative masculine and the exclusive particle: not “that,” but Him, and not anything else, but precisely Him.
Iha, “here.” That is, immortality is attained not after death, but in this life; and jīvan-mukti, “liberation while living,” was discussed reading the Jābāla-darśana (1.3). Nānyaḥ panthā ayanāya vidyate, “there is no other path to the end.” Ayana means “way, course, end”; panthā — “road.”
This expression stands in the upaniṣads in several places, and every time at a decisive point; and the Vaiṣṇava side holds it as one of its chief foundations. It is worth saying honestly, however, how the opposing side reads it, so the dispute may be properly named. The non-dual reading: puruṣa here is the Ātman, that is, myself; “to know Him” means to know oneself; and hence the verse is not about a person, but about the self.
An objection to this deserves citing, and it is grammatical. If one's own self were meant, the verse could not stand in the accusative with eva: “Him alone, and no other” presupposes that there are others among whom a choice is made. Let us add a second point, from context. The verse begins with the words vedāham etaṃ puruṣam, “I know this Man”; and “I” and “Man” stand there in one sentence as two.
Hence it should be read as it is written: there is He who is known, and there is he who knows; and the whole dispute over whether they remain two is settled by this verse in one direction.