Upanishads · Varāha 2.9
॥
Devanāgarī
न प्रकाशोऽहमित्युक्तिर्यत्प्रकाशैकबन्धना । स्वप्रकाशं तमात्मानमप्रकाशः कथं स्पृशेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
na prakāśo'hamityuktiryatprakāśaikabandhanā | svaprakāśaṃ tamātmānamaprakāśaḥ kathaṃ spṛśet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न प्रकाशः अहम् इति उक्तिःna prakāśaḥ aham iti uktiḥ'I am not light' — such a statement
यत् प्रकाश-एक-बन्धनाyat prakāśa-eka-bandhanāwhich is bound by light alone
स्व-प्रकाशं तम् आत्मानम्sva-prakāśaṃ tam ātmānamthe self-luminous self
अ-प्रकाशः कथं स्पृशेत्a-prakāśaḥ kathaṃ spṛśethow could the non-luminous touch?
Translation
"'I am not light' — such a statement is itself bound by light alone; how could the non-luminous touch that self-luminous self?"
Version
5d6280c939d7 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An argument is cited, and it is one of the subtlest in Vedanta; it deserves examination step by step. A person says: "I am not conscious of myself," "I am not light." But this very utterance is an act of being conscious: to say "I am not conscious," one must be conscious.
So the denial of consciousness rests on consciousness, and hence refutes itself. This argument is known in European literature from Augustine and Descartes; and it is worth noting that here it is stated in the same steps. Prakasha-eka-bandhana, "bound by light alone": a statement about darkness is upheld by light, for otherwise there would be no one to utter it.
The Vaishnava side accepts the argument fully and uses it against deniers of the soul. Let us add, however, what it notes of the limit of this argument, for a limit exists here and matters. The argument proves that a conscious one exists. It does not prove that the conscious one is alone.
From the fact that I cannot deny myself, it does not follow that I cannot affirm you; and anyone who has applied this argument has noticed that it stops precisely at the boundary of one's own consciousness. Hence more is usually drawn from it than it contains: it is good against one who says "I do not exist," and no good against one who says "we are two." The word sva-prakasha, "self-luminous," deserves separate note: it is a technical definition of consciousness meaning that it is illuminated by nothing else; discussed when reading the Mahavakya (p21), where a verse of the Katha 2.2.15 was cited.