Upaniṣads · Śvetāśvatara 1.3
॥
Devanāgarī
ते ध्यानयोगानुगता अपश्यन् देवात्मशक्तिं स्वगुणैर् निगूढाम् ।
यः कारणानि निखिलानि तानि कालात्मयुक्तान्य् अधितिष्ठत्य् एकः
Transliteración (IAST)
te dhyānayogānugatā apaśyan devātmaśaktiṃ svaguṇair nigūḍhām /
yaḥ kāraṇāni nikhilāni tāni kālātmayuktāny adhitiṣṭhaty ekaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
तेtethey; those sages
ध्यानयोगानुगताःdhyānayogānugatāḥwho followed the way of contemplation; who pursued the yoga of concentration
अपश्यन्apaśyanbeheld; saw with their own eyes
देवात्मशक्तिम्devātmaśaktimthe power of God, which is He Himself; the Deity's own śakti
स्वगुणैःsvaguṇaiḥby His own qualities; by His own guṇas
निगूढाम्nigūḍhāmhidden; concealed
यःyaḥwho; He who
कारणानिkāraṇānithe causes; the principles named before
निखिलानिnikhilāniall without exception; the whole of them
तानिtānithose; these very ones
कालात्मयुक्तानिkālātmayuktānitogether with time and the ātman; including time and the soul
अधितिष्ठतिadhitiṣṭhatigoverns; stands over them
एकःekaḥone; He alone
Traducción
They, following the way of contemplation, beheld the very power of God, hidden by His own qualities: He alone governs all those causes — down to time and the soul.
Versión
a49b8dc67168 · publicado 28 jul 2026, 14:13:46 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The answer to the question of the first mantra is given not as a conclusion but as testimony: apaśyan, "they beheld". Not "they reasoned" and not "they proved" — they saw; and the way is named: dhyāna-yoga, contemplation. This is an important trait of the whole Upaniṣad: it offers not a system but an experience one can arrive at.
What exactly was seen? Devātma-śakti — an expression rendered in various ways, and each rendering is true from its own side: "the power of God the Ātman", "the power which is He Himself", "the Deity's own energy". The sense is that behind all the causes named in 1.2 there stands not an impersonal law but a Power belonging to Someone — and this Power is inseparable from its Owner, as heat is from fire.
The next words explain why it is not seen: sva-guṇaiḥ nigūḍhām, "hidden by its own qualities". No outsider conceals it; it is covered by the very thing it produces. The world it unfolds is itself the veil behind which it stands. Hence the whole difficulty of knowing God: we look straight at the working of the Power and take it for a self-acting mechanism.
And the last line returns to the list of 1.2 in order to put it in its place. The causes are not abolished — time is there, the nature of things is there, the elements are there; what is abolished is their independence. He "governs" them, adhitiṣṭhati, literally "stands over" — and into the list of what is subject to Him are placed both time and the soul itself.
Here for the first time in the Upaniṣad the word "one", ekaḥ, is sounded. The multitude of causes is not denied but subordinated to One; and this is the move on which the whole of Vedānta will later be built: not "nothing exists but Him", but "nothing exists outside His power".