Upanishads · Mahāvākya p25
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्ववेदपारायणपुण्यं लभते
Transliteration (IAST)
sarvavedapārāyaṇapuṇyaṃ labhate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्व-वेद-पारायण-पुण्यं लभतेsarva-veda-pārāyaṇa-puṇyaṃ labhateobtains the merit of the recitation of all the Vedas
Translation
«Obtains the merit of the recitation of all the Vedas.»
Version
cc9678bd313d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
This promise is constant in short upaniṣads: the small is equated with the great. It is worth examining what stands behind such an equation, for it is not mere boasting. Pārāyaṇa means “recitation entire”; to recite all the Vedas is a labor taking years and accessible to few.
And here it is said: a short chapter gives the same. Behind this stands a thought worth stating: the essence can be expressed briefly. If the whole content reduces to a few propositions, then one who has read them knows the same as one who has read everything — though not in the same detail.
This thought is true, and confirmed by the experience of every teaching. But it has a reverse side, which must also be named. A brief exposition suits one who already knows what the subject is; for a beginner it gives words without content. Hence abbreviations are useful as a reminder and harmful as a substitute.
The Vaiṣṇava side uses equations of this kind too, and grounds them not in brevity but in the object. The Bhāgavatam says that all the Vedas have Him as their aim; and the Gītā the same: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ, “by all the Vedas I alone am to be known” (15.15). On such grounds, the equation ceases to be an exaggeration. Not “the short equals the long in volume,” but — they have one object; and hence one who has reached the object by the short path has arrived at the very same place.
This verse, it should be noted, ends with the words vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham, “I am the author of Vedānta and the very knower of the Veda”; that is, the speaker names himself both the object and the author.