Upaniṣads · Varāha 3.1
॥
Devanāgarī
नहि नानास्वरूपं स्यादेकं वस्तु कदाचन । तस्मादखण्ड एवास्मि यन्मदन्यन्न किञ्चन
Transliteración (IAST)
nahi nānāsvarūpaṃ syādekaṃ vastu kadācana | tasmādakhaṇḍa evāsmi yanmadanyanna kiñcana
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
न हि नाना-स्वरूपं स्यात्na hi nānā-svarūpaṃ syātnot indeed a manifold form
एकं वस्तु कदाचनekaṃ vastu kadācanaa single thing, ever
तस्मात् अ-खण्डः एव अस्मिtasmāt a-khaṇḍaḥ eva asmitherefore I am undivided
यत् मत् अन्यत् न किञ्चनyat mat anyat na kiñcanafor besides me there is nothing whatever
Traducción
"A single thing is never of manifold form; therefore I am undivided, for besides me there is nothing whatever."
Versión
378c13bdf351 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The third chapter begins, and it opens with an argument deserving examination, for it is the fundamental argument of nondualist teaching. The argument is this: the single is not manifold; hence, if the Highest is one, multiplicity does not exist. The premise is beyond dispute: one is not many.
The Vaishnava objection is not to the premise, but to what it leaves unsaid: it does not say in what respect it is one. It distinguishes three kinds of unity, and they deserve naming, for this distinction is central in its polemic. Svajatiya-bheda, "difference within a kind": one tree differs from another.
Vijatiya-bheda, "difference between kinds": a tree differs from a stone. Svagata-bheda, "difference within itself": a tree has a trunk, branches, leaves — and they are not the same thing. Nondualist teaching denies all three; the Vaishnava denies the first two and acknowledges the third.
That is, by its reckoning, He is one of His kind and beyond kinds — but has parts: form, qualities, powers, companions. With this distinction, the argument "the single is not manifold" loses its force: a tree is single and yet has branches; and no one would say the branches are a misunderstanding. Let us add what deserves noting in the word akhanda, "undivided" itself: it literally means "uncut," that is, denying precisely the third kind of difference. And it is over this that the dispute turns.