Upaniṣads · Brahma 3.8
॥
Devanāgarī
ते वै सूत्रविदो लोके ते च यज्ञोपवीतिनः । ज्ञानशिखिनो ज्ञाननिष्ठा ज्ञानयज्ञोपवीतिनः
Transliteración (IAST)
te vai sūtravido loke te ca yajñopavītinaḥ | jñānaśikhino jñānaniṣṭhā jñānayajñopavītinaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
ते वै सूत्रविदः लोकेte vai sūtravidaḥ lokethey indeed are the knowers of the thread in the world; precisely they know the cord in this world
ते च यज्ञोपवीतिनःte ca yajñopavītinaḥand they are the wearers of the sacred thread; and they are clothed in the yajñopavīta
ज्ञानशिखिनः ज्ञाननिष्ठाःjñānaśikhinaḥ jñānaniṣṭhāḥwith the tuft of knowledge, established in knowledge; whose śikhā is of knowing, steadfast in knowing
ज्ञानयज्ञोपवीतिनःjñānayajñopavītinaḥwearers of the sacred thread of knowledge; clothed in the yajñopavīta of knowing
Traducción
They indeed are the knowers of the thread in the world, and they are the wearers of the sacred thread: with the tuft of knowledge, established in knowledge, wearing the sacred thread of knowledge.
Versión
538e6df1d4fa · publicado 29 jul 2026, 3:09:07 UTC
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The word “knowledge” is repeated four times in the verse, and the repetition is deliberate.
Jñāna-śikhin — “having the tuft of knowledge”; jñāna-niṣṭha — “established in knowledge”; jñāna-yajñopavītin — “wearing the thread of knowledge”.
Everything by which the twice-born was recognised is here renamed.
And words are added that deserve weighing: te vai... loke — “they indeed are... in the world”.
The dispute, that is, is not over who is right before God, but over whom to count a thread-wearer here, among men.
This is what makes such books uncomfortable, and why they are dear. It is easy to say that before the Highest the castes mean nothing; here it is said otherwise — that the real brāhmaṇa is he who has knowledge, and it is said “in the world”.
Recall how the Jābāla did the same: there “the unlearned becomes learned in the Veda, the uninitiated becomes initiated”.
The next two verses will carry this to its end and close the chapter.