उपनिषद् · Kena 1.4
॥
देवनागरी
अन्यद् एव तद् विदिताद् अथो अविदिताद् अधि ।
इति शुश्रुम पूर्वेषां ये नस् तद् व्याचचक्षिरे ॥
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
anyad eva tad viditād atho aviditād adhi |
iti śuśruma pūrveṣāṃ ye nas tad vyācacakṣire ||
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अन्यत्anyatother; different
एवevaprecisely; truly
तत्tatThat; Brahman
विदितात्viditātthan the known (from √vid — 'to know'); than what is familiar; than what has been grasped
अथोathoand also; and then
अविदितात्aviditātthan the unknown; than the unfamiliar; than what has not yet been grasped
अधिadhiabove; beyond; higher
इतिitithus; this
शुश्रुमśuśrumawe have heard (perfect of √śru — 'to hear'); we have received by hearing; it was handed down to us
पूर्वेषाम्pūrveṣāmfrom the ancients; from the old [teachers]; from our predecessors
येyewho; they who
नःnaḥto us; for us
तत्tatthat; this meaning
व्याचचक्षिरेvyācacakṣireexpounded (vi-ā-√cakṣ — 'to interpret'); explained; laid open
अनुवाद
It is other than the known, and above the unknown — so have we heard from the ancients who expounded it to us.
संस्करण
5a72da8b1d75 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 7:28:41 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
anyad eva tad viditāt — "It is other than the known": everything the mind has already made its object is not He. atho aviditād adhi — "and above the unknown": yet neither is He merely "the not-yet-investigated", a blank on the map that science will one day fill in. The known and the unknown are two provinces of one objective world; Brahman enters neither, for He is not an object at all — He is the One by whom every knower knows. adhi — "above": a superiority not of degree but of very nature.
And now the teacher who has just confessed "we do not know how to teach" — teaches: iti śuśruma pūrveṣām — "so have we heard from the ancients, who explained this to us". It is the same formula as in the Īśa Upaniṣad (mantras 10 and 13): spiritual knowledge is not invented but transmitted — from those who received it to those who are receiving. Between the impossibility of teaching and a living transmission there is no contradiction: to description Brahman does not yield, to testimony He does; and the succession is precisely a chain of witnesses.
Next the Upaniṣad will hammer this distinction home five times over: not that which is worshipped as an object, but He by whom… — five mantras on one theme, one for each of the five gates of perception.