Upanishads · Varāha 1.2
॥
Devanāgarī
तेषां क्रमं प्रवक्ष्यामि सावधानमनाः शृणु । ज्ञानेन्द्रियाणि पञ्चैव श्रोत्रत्वग्लोचनादयः
Transliteration (IAST)
teṣāṃ kramaṃ pravakṣyāmi sāvadhānamanāḥ śṛṇu | jñānendriyāṇi pañcaiva śrotratvaglocanādayaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तेषां क्रमं प्रवक्ष्यामिteṣāṃ kramaṃ pravakṣyāmitheir order I shall set out
सावधान-मनाः शृणुsāvadhāna-manāḥ śṛṇuwith attentive mind, listen
ज्ञान-इन्द्रियाणि पञ्च एवjñāna-indriyāṇi pañca evathe knowing senses, five indeed
श्रोत्र-त्वक्-लोचन-आदयःśrotra-tvak-locana-ādayaḥhearing, skin, eye, and the rest
Translation
"I shall set out their order; listen with an attentive mind. The knowing senses are five: hearing, skin, eye, and the rest."
Version
402cc435e3a6 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A list of tattvas, "first principles," begins, and it will take up fourteen verses; the count will be carried to ninety-six. It is worth saying in advance why such lists are needed, for without explanation they are tiresome. A list of tattvas is an inventory of what a person is not. It is composed not for the sake of complete knowledge of the world, but so that, having gone through it, one may ask: what, then, remains?
This device is the same in Sankhya and in Vedanta, and was discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (8.8). Let us add what deserves noting at the very start of the list. First named are the jnana-indriyani, "the knowing senses" — that is, the instruments of perception.
This order is no accident: it begins with that by which a person contacts the world, not with what the world is made of. That is, the inventory proceeds from inside outward, from the perceiver to the perceived. The Vaishnava side accepts these lists and does not replace them with its own: it uses the same twenty-four principles of Sankhya, and the Gita lists them (13.5–6).
It adds to them, as discussed when reading the Panchabrahma (8.3), two more categories: para-prakriti, "the higher nature" — the living being, and the One above both; and the verse of the Gita was cited: "this is the lower; but know another, higher nature of Mine — the living being" (7.5).