Upanishads · Pañcabrahma 21
॥
Devanāgarī
पञ्चब्रह्म परं विद्यात्सद्योजातादिपूर्वकम् । दृश्यते श्रूयते यच्च पञ्चब्रह्मात्मकं स्वयम्
Transliteration (IAST)
pañcabrahma paraṃ vidyātsadyojātādipūrvakam | dṛśyate śrūyate yacca pañcabrahmātmakaṃ svayam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पञ्च-ब्रह्म परं विद्यात्pañca-brahma paraṃ vidyātlet one know the five brahmans as supreme
सद्योजात-आदि-पूर्वकम्sadyojāta-ādi-pūrvakambeginning with Sadyojāta
दृश्यते श्रूयते यत् चdṛśyate śrūyate yat caand whatever is seen and heard
पञ्च-ब्रह्म-आत्मकं स्वयम्pañca-brahma-ātmakaṃ svayamis itself what consists of the five brahmans
Translation
"Let one know the five brahmans, beginning with Sadyojāta, as supreme; and whatever is seen and heard is itself what consists of the five brahmans."
Version
e456c5bd9590 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
It is said: everything that dṛśyate śrūyate, "is seen and heard," is the fivefold set. That is, the mapping which for seventeen verses laid the world out by columns is here reversed: the whole world is recognized as these five. It is worth noting that precisely sight and hearing are listed — the two senses by which we receive almost everything. Touch, taste, and smell are not named.
This detail is no accident and recurs in all similar lists: sight and hearing are the senses of distance, while the rest require contact. The Vaiṣṇava side makes this distinction foundational and builds on it her order of means. First for her is śravaṇam, "listening," second kīrtanam, "proclaiming"; and why hearing is placed first was discussed when reading the Bhasma-jābāla (3p10).
Let us add what is worth saying here about sight in her reckoning. Sight holds an honored place for her, but a second one: first one hears, then one sees. The basis given is simple — one can see only what one already knows to look for; and a person who has not heard, looking at an image, will see a stone.
The Bhāgavatam speaks of this directly in describing darśana: one comes having heard, and only then looks; and in all her customs reading precedes beholding. This order, it is worth noting, is the reverse of our own habit. We trust the eyes more than the ears, and say "better to see once." There the opposite is held, and their argument is this: the eye shows appearance, the ear conveys meaning; and without the second, the first is not understood.