उपनिषद् · 1.11
॥
देवनागरी
विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस् तद् वेदोभयं सह ।
अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययामृतम् अश्नुते
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
vidyāṃ cāvidyāṃ ca yas tad vedobhayaṃ saha |
avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
विद्याम्vidyāmknowledge; vidyā; spiritual realisation
चcaand; as well as; together with
अविद्याम्avidyāmignorance; avidyā; the sphere of action
चcaand; as well as; together with
यःyaḥhe who; the one who; the man who
तत्tatthis; that; both these paths
वेदvedaknows; understands; comprehends
उभयम्ubhayamboth; the one and the other; the two sides
सहsahatogether; at once; conjointly
अविद्ययाavidyayāby avidyā; through action; through duty rightly done
मृत्युम्mṛtyumdeath; mortality; the world of death
तीर्त्वाtīrtvāhaving crossed over (from √tṝ — 'to cross, to ferry over'); having overcome; having passed beyond
विद्ययाvidyayāby knowledge; by vidyā; by spiritual realisation
अमृतम्amṛtamimmortality; the nectar of immortality; the imperishable state
अश्नुतेaśnutetastes (from √aś — 'to taste, to attain'); obtains; attains
अनुवाद
But he who knows both together — vidyā and avidyā — crosses over death by avidyā and tastes immortality by vidyā.
संस्करण
9c6fa711aee4 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 7:17:19 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The resolution of the triad: vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha — "he who knows both together". saha — "conjointly": not by turns and not by halves, but as two sides of a single life. avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā — by activity a man "ferries himself across" death: √tṝ gives the image of crossing a river. Duties performed as service — in the spirit of the second mantra — purify existence, tear one out of chaos and sloth, and carry one unharmed through the region of death. vidyayāmṛtam aśnute — and by knowledge he "tastes immortality": he comes to know himself as an eternal soul and the Lord as the eternal centre of his life.
The verb aśnute (√aś — "to taste, to attain") deserves to be listened to: immortality here is neither a bare cessation of deaths nor a dissolution — it is tasted. Eternity is alive and sweet; liberation is not the end of existence but the beginning of an unclouded communion with the Eternal.
The triad 9–11 is one of the most practical pages of Upaniṣadic wisdom: it hallows everyday work by giving it a spiritual place, and humbles knowledge so that it does not degenerate into pride. A life in which the hands are busy with service and the heart with truth becomes itself a ferry: across death — to the nectar.