Upaniṣads · Chāndogya 4,10.5
॥
Devanāgarī
सः ह उवाच विजानामि अहम् यत् प्राणः ब्रह्म कं च तु खं च न विजानामि इति ते ह ऊचुः यद् वाव कं तद् एव खम् यद् एव खं तद् एव कम् इति प्राणम् च ह अस्मै तत् आकाशम् च ऊचुः
Transliteración (IAST)
saḥ ha uvāca vijānāmi aham yat prāṇaḥ brahma kaṃ ca tu khaṃ ca na vijānāmi iti te ha ūcuḥ yad vāva kaṃ tad eva kham yad eva khaṃ tad eva kam iti prāṇam ca ha asmai tat ākāśam ca ūcuḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
सःsaḥhe; that one
हhaindeed; surely
उवाचuvācahe said; He spoke
विजानामिvijānāmiI understand (vi + √jñā — 'to distinguish, to comprehend'); I comprehend; I discern
अहम्ahamI; I myself
यत्yatwhich; that which
प्राणःprāṇaḥthe prāṇa; the vital breath
ब्रह्मbrahmaBrahman; sacred knowledge
कंkaṃbliss; happiness
चcaand; as well as
तुtubut; surely
खंkhaṃspace; ether
चcaand; as well as
नnanot; no
विजानामिvijānāmiI understand (vi + √jñā — 'to distinguish, to comprehend'); I comprehend; I discern
इतिitithus; how
तेteto you; for you
हhaindeed; surely
ऊचुःūcuḥsaid; they uttered
यद्yadthat which; when
वावvāvatruly; indeed; verily
कंkaṃbliss; happiness
तद्tadthat; this
एवevaindeed; surely
खम्khamspace; ether
यद्yadthat which; when
एवevaindeed; surely
खंkhaṃspace; ether
तद्tadthat; this
एवevaindeed; surely
कम्kambliss; happiness
इतिitithus; how
प्राणम्prāṇamthe prāṇa; the vital breath
चcaand; as well as
हhaindeed; surely
अस्मैasmaifor him; to him
तत्tatthat; this
आकाशम्ākāśamspace (ākāśa — 'the shining expanse', from ā + √kāś); ether; expanse
चcaand; as well as
ऊचुःūcuḥsaid; they uttered
Traducción
He said: "That breath is Brahman I understand. But joy and space I do not understand." They said: "What joy is, that is space; what space is, that is joy." And they explained to him breath and space.
Versión
8b847e730494 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 23:21:05 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Upakosala's honest "I do not understand" is a merit, not a defect: he does not pretend to have grasped it, and thereby gives the fires their chance to finish. Their answer is one of the profoundest equations in the Upaniṣads: yad vāva kaṁ tad eva kham — "what joy is, that is space; what space is, that is joy".
Taken separately, both words deceive. "Joy" without space is any momentary pleasure, and the pupil would conclude that Brahman is merely something agreeable. "Space" without joy is an empty physical ether, and the pupil would take Brahman for a lifeless void. The fires weld the words together: true joy is boundless as space, and true infinity is not empty — it is blissful. Yo vai bhūmā tat sukham — "only the unbounded is happiness; in the small there is no happiness" (Chāndogya 7.23.1): the formula of the seventh chapter is already folded up here.
So both perennial errors are cut off — the craving for finite pleasures, and the notion of the Absolute as a void. Brahman is neither emptiness nor a tickling of the senses: he is blissful Expanse, the living container of everything, raso vai saḥ — "he is rasa itself, taste itself" (Taittirīya 2.7). And "breath and space" together — life breathing in infinite bliss — is already almost the name of Him of whom the Vedas sing.