Upaniṣads · Pañcabrahma 36
॥
Devanāgarī
अयं हृदि स्थितः साक्षी सर्वेषामविशेषतः । तेनायं हृदयं प्रोक्तः शिवः संसारमोचकः
Transliteración (IAST)
ayaṃ hṛdi sthitaḥ sākṣī sarveṣāmaviśeṣataḥ | tenāyaṃ hṛdayaṃ proktaḥ śivaḥ saṃsāramocakaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अयं हृदि स्थितः साक्षीayaṃ hṛdi sthitaḥ sākṣīHe, dwelling in the heart, the witness
सर्वेषाम् अ-विशेषतःsarveṣām a-viśeṣataḥof all, without distinction
तेन अयं हृदयं प्रोक्तःtena ayaṃ hṛdayaṃ proktaḥtherefore He is called "the heart"
शिवः संसार-मोचकःśivaḥ saṃsāra-mocakaḥŚiva, the liberator from transmigration
Traducción
"He, dwelling in the heart, is the witness of all, without distinction; therefore He is called 'the heart' — Śiva, the liberator from transmigration. Such is the upaniṣad."
Versión
73cfb3076487 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The book ends, and its last verse is, to my mind, the finest objection to its own twenty-ninth through thirty-third. It is said: He is sākṣī, "witness," dwelling in the heart of sarveṣām, "of all." The genitive plural here settles the matter. A witness of all presupposes that these all are many and that He is not one of them: a witness is not a witness of his own witnessing.
Aviśeṣataḥ, "without distinction," is added, that is, He is equally in the heart of everyone — in the heart of the worthy and the unworthy alike. This position the Vaiṣṇava side holds and states in the Gītā's verse, cited more than once: "the Lord dwells in the region of the heart of all beings" (18.61). It is worth noting also the interpretation of the name the book gives: tena ayaṃ hṛdayaṃ proktaḥ, "therefore he is called 'the heart.'"
The interpretation of the word hṛdaya is found in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and the Chāndogya and runs thus: hṛdi ayam, "He is in the heart"; or hṛd + ayam + am — three syllables meaning "in the heart," "this one," "goes." That is, the very word "heart" is interpreted as an indication of the One Present; and a person who says "in the heart," by this interpretation, utters a name every time. Let us now look back over the whole book and say what is in it.
It is small and built thus: a prose interrogation about the five faces; fifteen verses of mapping by columns; the gathering of the five into one; and finally an abstract examination of cause and effect, taken from the Chāndogya. There are passages in it worth reading for their own sake: the fifth of the five deeds — anugraha, "grace," and concealment as a deed (16); the verse of the Śvetāśvatara that He is grasped by the heart before the mind (19); bhakti-bhāvitaḥ, "pervaded by devotion," as the condition for the fruit (26); and this last verse about the witness of all, who is sought. There is also an argument with which we disagreed and examined in detail: "difference is everywhere false" (32–33). The objection was set out there and comes down to two points: this assertion cancels itself, for it distinguishes; and difference is given in perception itself, not attributed to it.
The chief thing about the book, however, is that it does not follow its own conclusion. Having declared difference false, it ends by placing Another in the heart and commanding that He be sought — and only one who is not the seeker can seek and bear witness.