Upanishads · Pañcabrahma 11
॥
Devanāgarī
पञ्चाशत्स्वरवर्णाख्यमथर्ववेदस्वरूपकम् । कोटिकोटिगणाध्यक्षं ब्रह्माण्डाखण्डविग्रहम्
Transliteration (IAST)
pañcāśatsvaravarṇākhyamatharvavedasvarūpakam | koṭikoṭigaṇādhyakṣaṃ brahmāṇḍākhaṇḍavigraham
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पञ्चाशत्-स्वर-वर्ण-आख्यम्pañcāśat-svara-varṇa-ākhyamcalled by fifty sounds and letters
अथर्व-वेद-स्वरूपकम्atharva-veda-svarūpakamhaving the Atharvaveda as its very form
कोटि-कोटि-गण-अध्यक्षंkoṭi-koṭi-gaṇa-adhyakṣaṃoverseeing myriads upon myriads of hosts
ब्रह्म-अण्ड-अखण्ड-विग्रहम्brahma-aṇḍa-akhaṇḍa-vigrahamwhose body is the undivided cosmic egg
Translation
"Called by fifty sounds and letters, having the Atharvaveda as its very form, overseeing myriads upon myriads of hosts, whose body is the undivided cosmic egg."
Version
dcb6abebb304 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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It is worth noting the word adhyakṣa, "overseer," literally "having an eye over." This word we examined when reading the Jābāla-darśana (8.9), where the Gītā's verse was cited: mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram, "under My oversight nature produces the moving and unmoving" (9.10). Let us repeat the argument briefly, for it is again relevant here. Nature produces — but not on its own; the unconscious can neither arrange nor direct; and so behind it a conscious one is presupposed.
Let us add here what was not said there and completes the argument. The word adhyakṣa denotes not a doer but a watcher. The overseer does not himself do the work; he is present, and the work proceeds in his presence.
This distinction matters and resolves an old difficulty about why God, being the cause of everything, is not the cause of evil. If He is the doer, He does evil too. If He is the overseer, evil is done in His presence and with His permission, but not by Him; and the difference between doing and permitting is understood by everyone from ordinary life.
The Vedānta-sūtra devotes a separate discussion to this and answers: vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇye na sāpekṣatvāt, "there is no inequality or unmercifulness [in Him], for He takes into account [the deeds of beings]" (2.1.34). That is, the inequality of lots arises from the beings' own former deeds, and He, in this, is the one who allows the consequences to come to pass.