Upaniṣads · Kena 1.3
॥
Devanāgarī
न तत्र चक्षुर् गच्छति न वाग् गच्छति नो मनः ।
न विद्मो न विजानीमो यथैतद् अनुशिष्यात् ॥
Transliteración (IAST)
na tatra cakṣur gacchati na vāg gacchati no manaḥ |
na vidmo na vijānīmo yathaitad anuśiṣyāt ||
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
नnanot; no
तत्रtatrathere; in that
चक्षुःcakṣuḥthe eye; sight
गच्छतिgacchatigoes; reaches
नnanot; no
वाक्vākspeech; the word
गच्छतिgacchatigoes; reaches
न उna unor; and not
मनःmanaḥthe mind; thought
नnanot; no
विद्मःvidmaḥwe know; we are aware
नnanot; no
विजानीमःvijānīmaḥwe discern (vi-√jñā — 'to know by distinguishing'); we clearly grasp; we make out
यथाyathāhow; in what manner
एतत्etatthis; it
अनुशिष्यात्anuśiṣyātone might teach (anu-√śās — 'to instruct in succession'); it should be taught; to hand it on by instruction
Traducción
There the eye does not reach, nor speech, nor the mind. We do not know, we do not discern how one might teach this.
Versión
1ec72d91e63c · publicado 26 jul 2026, 19:28:41 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
After a confident answer, a sudden confession: na vidmo na vijānīmaḥ — "we do not know, we do not discern how to teach this". It is the teacher who says it, and his honesty is part of the teaching. Eye, speech and mind "do not go there" (na tatra gacchati) for the same reason for which the formula of the second mantra called Him "the eye of the eye": an instrument cannot turn round and seize the One by whom it acts, as a flame cannot illumine the Sun.
The Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.9.1) says the same: yato vāco nivartante aprāpya manasā saha — "whence speech turns back, together with the mind, not having reached". Yet this is not agnosticism: the Upaniṣad does not say "He cannot be known" — it says "this cannot be taught in the way objects are taught". An object can be described, and the description handed on; the Living One can only be met.
Here the very direction of knowing is reversed: not the ascent of a grasping thought, but the descent of a self-revealing Truth. The next mantra will show what tradition does in the face of this impossibility: it does not fall silent — it hands on what it has heard.