Upanishads · Varāha 2.38
॥
Devanāgarī
इदं सत्यमिदं सत्यं सत्यमेतदिहोच्यते । अहं सत्यं परं ब्रह्म मत्तः किञ्चिन्न विद्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
idaṃ satyamidaṃ satyaṃ satyametadihocyate | ahaṃ satyaṃ paraṃ brahma mattaḥ kiñcinna vidyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
इदं सत्यम् इदं सत्यंidaṃ satyam idaṃ satyaṃthis is truth, this is truth
सत्यम् एतत् इह उच्यतेsatyam etat iha ucyatetruth, this is said here
अहं सत्यं परं ब्रह्मahaṃ satyaṃ paraṃ brahmaI am truth, the highest brahman
मत्तः किञ्चित् न विद्यतेmattaḥ kiñcit na vidyatebesides me nothing whatever exists
Translation
"This is truth, this is truth, truth is this, it is said here: I am truth, the highest brahman; besides me nothing whatever exists."
Version
6eba48003c8c · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is the threefold satyam, "truth," in the first half. Such repetition, in Sanskrit literature, is an intensification of an oath: thrice repeated is equivalent to a solemn swearing. We noted this in the Mahabharata, where Vyasa says "I cry with raised arms, and no one listens"; and each time a threefold repetition means the speaker anticipates disbelief.
Let us add what deserves saying of the content: mattah kinchin na vidyate, "besides me nothing whatever exists." We examined this position when reading verse eleven, and pointed out that it does not fit with the rest of the book. Let us add here another reading, under which it does fit, for it is possible, and even likely, in this book.
If the speaker is the boar-formed Lord, then "besides me nothing exists" is an assertion not about the impersonal, but about Him; and then it means the same as what the Gita says in the first person: mattah paratram nanyat kinchid asti dhananjaya, "there is nothing higher than Me, O Dhananjaya; on Me all this is strung, like pearls on a thread" (7.7). Worth noting is that the same word mattah, "than Me," stands there; but parataram, "higher," is added. That is, the Gita says "there is nothing higher than Me," while the line here says "besides me nothing exists"; and the difference between "higher" and "besides" is the whole difference between primacy and sole existence.
By the Vaishnava reading, the line here is an abbreviation of the Gita's verse that lost a word in the abbreviating; and of such abbreviations, discussed when reading verse twenty-eight.