Upaniṣads · Mahā 5.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ऋभुः अथापरं प्रवक्ष्यामि शृणु तात यथायथम् अज्ञानभूः सप्तपदा ज्ञभूः सप्तपदैव हि
Transliteración (IAST)
ṛbhuḥ athāparaṃ pravakṣyāmi śṛṇu tāta yathāyatham ajñānabhūḥ saptapadā jñabhūḥ saptapadaiva hi
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
ऋभुः अथ अपरम् प्रवक्ष्यामिṛbhuḥ atha aparam pravakṣyāmiṚbhu: now I shall declare another thing; Ṛbhu: further I will tell something else
शृणु तात यथायथम्śṛṇu tāta yathāyathamhear, dear one, in due order; listen, my son, all in its sequence
अज्ञान-भूः सप्त-पदाajñāna-bhūḥ sapta-padāthe ground of ignorance has seven steps; the land of unknowing possesses seven stages
ज्ञ-भूः सप्त-पदा एव हिjña-bhūḥ sapta-padā eva hiand the ground of knowledge just seven as well; and the land of knowing — exactly seven likewise
Traducción
Ṛbhu said: “Now I shall declare another thing — hear, dear one, all in due order. The ground of ignorance has seven steps, and the ground of knowledge exactly seven as well.”
Versión
3ae1e2fd25c8 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The book's longest chapter begins, and its plan is given in the very first verse.
Two ladders of seven steps: one downward, into ignorance, the other upward, into knowledge.
The word bhū means “earth, ground, domain”. Not “a state” and not “an experience”: a place where one stands. And on it one lives.
Note the address tāta — “dear one, my son”. So one addresses a son, or a pupil one loves. The teacher who in the last chapter flung “man-worm” now speaks gently.
Why two ladders and not one? Because ignorance is not an empty place where knowledge is absent. It has its own architecture, its own steps and its own development; one can descend it as thoroughly as one climbs.
First the lower ladder will be described, up to verse 5.20, and from 5.24 — the upper.