Upaniṣads · Kena 2.2
॥
Devanāgarī
नाहं मन्ये सुवेदेति नो न वेदेति वेद च ।
यो नस् तद् वेद तद् वेद नो न वेदेति वेद च ॥
Transliteración (IAST)
nāhaṃ manye suvedeti no na vedeti veda ca |
yo nas tad veda tad veda no na vedeti veda ca ||
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
नnanot; no
अहम्ahamI; I myself
मन्येmanyethink; hold
सुवेद इतिsuveda iti'I know well' (su-√vid); 'I have grasped it fully'; 'I know it to perfection'
नोnonor; and not
नnanot; no
वेद इतिveda iti'I know', thus; I am aware
वेदvedaI know; I am aware
चcaand; also
यःyaḥwho; he who
नःnaḥamong us; of us
तत्tatthat; Brahman
वेदvedaknows; is aware of
तत्tatthat; so
वेदvedaknows; is aware of
नोnonor; and not
नnanot; no
वेद इतिveda iti'I know', thus; I am aware
वेदvedaknows; is aware of
चcaand; also
Traducción
I do not think "I know well" — nor yet "I do not know": I know, and I do not know. He among us who has understood that saying — "I do not know, and I know" — he indeed knows.
Versión
4acb7eb229aa · publicado 26 jul 2026, 19:28:41 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The famous paradox, the heart of the second khaṇḍa. The pupil rejects both easy positions: the complacent "I know well" and the capitulating "it cannot be known". His formula — veda ca na veda ca, "I know and I do not know" — is no play on words but an exact epistemology of the Infinite: I know Him, for He has truly given Himself to be known; I do not know Him, for He is not exhausted by any knowledge.
Both halves must be held together, because each alone is ruinous. "I know" by itself is pride, losing Him in a concept (mantra 1.4: He is "other than the known"); "I do not know" by itself is despair, losing Him in defiance of His own self-disclosure (again mantra 1.4: the teachers "explained this to us"). Humility and assurance are not opposites but two wings of a living knowledge.
For one walking the path of devotion this paradox is no riddle but the very fabric of a relationship with the Infinite: He is known ever more deeply — and never to the end; and this inexhaustibility is not a defect of the knowledge but its joy: eternity will not suffice to "finish" knowing Him, and therefore communion with Him never grows stale.