Upaniṣads · Kena 2.5
॥
Devanāgarī
इह चेद् अवेदीद् अथ सत्यम् अस्ति ।
न चेद् इहावेदीन् महती विनष्टिः ।
भूतेषु भूतेषु विचित्य धीराः ।
प्रेत्यास्माल् लोकाद् अमृता भवन्ति ॥
Transliteración (IAST)
iha ced avedīd atha satyam asti |
na ced ihāvedīn mahatī vinaṣṭiḥ |
bhūteṣu bhūteṣu vicitya dhīrāḥ |
pretyāsmāl lokād amṛtā bhavanti ||
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
इहihahere; in this life
चेत्cetif; should
अवेदीत्avedīthe has known (aorist of √vid — 'to know'); he has recognised; he has realised
अथathathen; thereupon
सत्यम्satyamtruth; authenticity
अस्तिastithere is; exists
नnanot; no
चेत्cetif; should
इहihahere; in this life
अवेदीत्avedīthe has known (aorist of √vid — 'to know'); he has recognised; he has realised
महतीmahatīgreat; immense
विनष्टिःvinaṣṭiḥdestruction (vi-√naś — 'to perish'); loss; ruin
भूतेषु भूतेषुbhūteṣu bhūteṣuin being after being; among all beings
विचित्यvicityahaving discerned (vi-√ci — 'to distinguish, to sift'); having distinguished; having descried
धीराःdhīrāḥthe wise; the steadfast
प्रेत्यpretyahaving departed; after death
अस्मात्asmātfrom this; from here
लोकात्lokātworld; plane of being
अमृताःamṛtāḥimmortal; imperishable
भवन्तिbhavantibecome; are
Traducción
If a man has known [Him] here, there is truth; if here he has not known, great is the loss. Having discerned Him in being after being, the wise, when they depart from this world, become immortal.
Versión
b47f02e508ab · publicado 26 jul 2026, 19:28:41 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
iha — "here", in this life, in this body: the Upaniṣad allows no postponement. atha satyam asti — "then there is truth": the life of one who has known has become real, has gained the actuality for which it was given. na ced ihāvedīt — "but if here he has not known" — mahatī vinaṣṭiḥ, "great is the loss". Not a threat of hell, but a sober reckoning: human birth is the only form in which a being can ask "by whom is the mind sent forth?"; to squander it without asking is a loss beyond compare, for what is lost is the very possibility.
bhūteṣu bhūteṣu vicitya — "having discerned Him in being after being": the repetition is distributive — in each, without exception. The wise see one and the same Lord of consciousness in all who are conscious — and this chimes deeply with the Īśa Upaniṣad (mantras 6–7), where he who sees all beings in the Ātman is free of revulsion and of grief.
The end of the khaṇḍa returns word for word to the end of mantra 1.2: pretyāsmāl lokād amṛtā bhavanti — the circle is closed, the teaching is set out. But the Upaniṣad does not end here: argument has done all that argument can. What follows is a story: what doctrine cannot finish saying will be shown in persons — how the gods themselves failed to recognise the One of whom all this has been spoken.