Upaniṣads · Gaṇapati 12.2
॥
Devanāgarī
इत्यथर्वणवाक्यम् । ब्रह्माद्याचरणं विद्यान्न बिभेति कदाचनेति
Transliteración (IAST)
ityatharvaṇavākyam | brahmādyācaraṇaṃ vidyānna bibheti kadācaneti
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
इति अथर्वण-वाक्यम्iti atharvaṇa-vākyamsuch is the word of the atharvan
ब्रह्म-आदि-आचरणं विद्यात्brahma-ādi-ācaraṇaṃ vidyātlet him know the conduct toward Brahmā and the rest
न बिभेति कदाचन इतिna bibheti kadācana itihe will never fear
Traducción
Such is the word of the atharvan. Whoever knows the conduct toward Brahmā and the rest will never fear.
Versión
55f8f1d03848 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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It is promised na bibheti kadācana, "he will never fear." The promise of fearlessness is one of the chief promises in the upaniṣads and recurs in them constantly. The Taittirīya says: "when a person finds fearlessness in That, invisible, bodiless, unspoken — then he attains fearlessness" (2.7).
It is worth working out where fear comes from by this reckoning, for the upaniṣads give one and the same answer. The same Taittirīya adds: yadā hy evaiṣa etasminn udaram antaraṃ kurute, atha tasya bhayaṃ bhavati, "when he makes even the slightest gap in That, then fear arises in him" (2.7). Fear, then, comes from a gap, not from difference.
We have already examined this distinction when reading the Kaṭha-rudra, and it recurs here. The word antara means "gap, crack"; and the verb with it is kurute, "makes" — that is, the gap is not given but produced by the one who fears. Hence the whole answer to the usual objection of the non-dual side, that fear arises from duality as such. The text says no such thing. It says that fear arises from a gap — and a gap is possible only where there is a bond that can be torn.
The Vaiṣṇava side stands on exactly this: fearlessness is given not by the abolition of the second but by the reliability of the relation with the second. The Gītā promises the same, in the same words: "abandon all laws, take refuge in Me alone; I will free you from all sins, do not grieve" (18.66); and the closing mā śucaḥ, "do not grieve," is precisely a promise of fearlessness, but given not for knowledge but for refuge.