Upaniṣads · Kaṭha 2.18
॥
Devanāgarī
न जायते म्रियते वा विपश्चिन् नायं कुतश्चिन् न बभूव कश्चित् ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतो ऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे
Transliteración (IAST)
na jāyate mriyate vā vipaścin nāyaṃ kutaścin na babhūva kaścit /
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
नnanot; no
जायतेjāyateis born; arises
म्रियतेmriyatedies; comes to an end
वाvāor; surely
विपश्चित्vipaścitthe Knowing One (vipaścit — 'the seeing, the conscious'); the conscious [soul]; the wise [Ātman]
नnanot; no
अयम्ayamthis; this Ātman
कुतश्चित्kutaścitfrom anything; from any quarter
नnanot; no
बभूवbabhūvacame forth; became
कश्चित्kaścitby anyone; by anything
अजःajaḥunborn (a-ja); without beginning; who has never been born
नित्यःnityaḥeternal; constant
शाश्वतःśāśvataḥeverlasting (śāśvata); constant; everlasting
अयम्ayamthis; the present
पुराणःpurāṇaḥprimordial (purāṇa — 'ancient'); ancient; pre-eternal
नnanot; no
हन्यतेhanyateis slain (from √han — 'to kill'); perishes; is destroyed
हन्यमानेhanyamānewhen it is slain (passive participle of √han); at its destruction; in the killing
शरीरेśarīreof the body; in the body
Traducción
The Knowing One [the Ātman] is not born and does not die; He has arisen from nothing and has become nothing. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, primordial, He does not perish when the body perishes.
Versión
0bd19fdfd0ca · publicado 26 jul 2026, 21:13:03 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The answer to Naciketas's question in its very substance — the solemn formula of immortality. na jāyate mriyate vā vipaścit — "the Knowing One is not born and does not die": vipaścit — "conscious, seeing": the soul is defined through consciousness — it is not a thing endowed with thought but the living capacity to know. nāyaṁ kutaścin na babhūva kaścit — "he has arisen out of nothing and has become nothing": the soul has neither raw material nor a date of manufacture; it is not a product — not of matter, not even of spirit: it is primordial.
Four definitions rise like four walls of a fortress: ajaḥ — unborn, nityaḥ — eternal, śāśvataḥ — everlasting, purāṇaḥ — ancient (and, as tradition glosses, "ancient — and ever new"). na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre — "he is not slain when the body is slain": death occurs — but not to the one who knows; the house collapses, not the dweller.
The Bhagavad-gītā (2.20) repeats this verse almost letter for letter — Kṛṣṇa answers the grieving Arjuna with the words with which Death answered Naciketas: the revelation is one, and in that identity is the seal of its authenticity. Here, at last, is the direct answer to the third boon: "is he or is he not?" — He is; and not merely goes on being — he cannot but be: being is not a property of the soul but its very fabric.