Upanishads · Kṛṣṇa 1.12
॥
Devanāgarī
बलं ज्ञानं सुराणां वै तेषां ज्ञानं हृतं क्षणात् । शेषनागो भवेद्रामः कृष्णो ब्रह्मैव शाश्वतम्
Transliteration (IAST)
balaṃ jñānaṃ surāṇāṃ vai teṣāṃ jñānaṃ hṛtaṃ kṣaṇāt | śeṣanāgo bhavedrāmaḥ kṛṣṇo brahmaiva śāśvatam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
बलं ज्ञानं सुराणां वैbalaṃ jñānaṃ surāṇāṃ vaithe strength and knowledge of the gods
तेषां ज्ञानं हृतं क्षणात्teṣāṃ jñānaṃ hṛtaṃ kṣaṇāttheir knowledge is taken away in an instant
शेष-नागः भवेत् रामःśeṣa-nāgaḥ bhavet rāmaḥthe serpent Śeṣa is Rāma
कृष्णः ब्रह्म एव शाश्वतम्kṛṣṇaḥ brahma eva śāśvatamKṛṣṇa, however, is the eternal brahman
Translation
"The strength and knowledge of the gods — their knowledge is taken away in an instant. The serpent Śeṣa is Rāma; Kṛṣṇa, however, is the eternal brahman."
Version
db36e53aeeb6 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is the line for whose sake this book is worth reading: kṛṣṇo brahmaiva śāśvatam, "Kṛṣṇa, however, is the eternal brahman." That is, the identification is carried out in the direction the Vaiṣṇava side herself carries it: not "Kṛṣṇa is a manifestation of brahman," but brahman is Kṛṣṇa. It is worth examining why the direction is decisive here.
If one says "Kṛṣṇa is brahman," the subject is Kṛṣṇa and the predicate is brahman: the form is traced up to the impersonal, and the impersonal turns out to be its essence. If one says "brahman is Kṛṣṇa," the subject is brahman: the impersonal is traced up to the person, and the person turns out to be its essence. The Vaiṣṇava side holds to the second and rests on the Bhāgavatam's verse, cited more than once: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate — three names of one, of which the third is the fullest (1.2.11).
Let us add the argument she brings here, worth knowing. Radiance presupposes a radiant body, not the reverse. The sun's light is the sun's light; but the sun is not the light of the sun, it is that from which the light comes.
Hence brahma-jyotiḥ, "the radiance of brahman," is described by her as issuing from His body; and the Gītā speaks in the first person: brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham, "I am the foundation of brahman" (14.27). This verse is, to my mind, decisive in the whole dispute over direction. It is not brahman that is the foundation of Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa the foundation of brahman; and the present line says the same, more briefly.