उपनिषद् · Śvetāśvatara 1.1
॥
देवनागरी
ब्रह्मवादिनो वदन्ति
किंकारणं ब्रह्म कुतः स्म जाता जीवामः केन क्व च संप्रतिष्ठाः ।
अधिष्ठिताः केन सुखेतरेषु वर्तामहे ब्रह्मविदो व्यवस्थाम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
brahmavādino vadanti
kiṃkāraṇaṃ brahma kutaḥ sma jātā jīvāmaḥ kena kva ca saṃpratiṣṭhāḥ /
adhiṣṭhitāḥ kena sukhetareṣu vartāmahe brahmavido vyavasthām
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
ब्रह्मवादिनःbrahmavādinaḥthose who discourse on Brahman; those whose speech is of the Highest
वदन्तिvadantisay; ask
किंकारणंkiṃkāraṇaṃwhat is the cause; wherein lies the cause
ब्रह्मbrahmaBrahman; the Highest — is He the cause?
कुतःkutaḥwhence; out of what
स्म जाताःsma jātāḥare we born; have we come to be
जीवामःjīvāmaḥdo we live; by what do we sustain life
केनkenaby what; by whom
क्वkvawhere; in what
चcaand; as well as
संप्रतिष्ठाःsaṃpratiṣṭhāḥare we established; do we have our support
अधिष्ठिताःadhiṣṭhitāḥset under authority; governed
केनkenaby whom; by whose power
सुखेतरेषुsukhetareṣuin joys and in their opposite; in happiness and in what is other than it
वर्तामहेvartāmahedo we abide; do we revolve, do we live
ब्रह्मविदःbrahmavidaḥO knowers of Brahman; you who know Brahman
व्यवस्थाम्vyavasthāmthe rule; the order by which this is arranged
अनुवाद
Those who discourse on Brahman say: what is the cause? Is it Brahman? Whence are we born, by what do we live, where do we find our support? By whom are we set, O knowers of Brahman, that we abide now in joy and now in its opposite — and what is the rule of it?
संस्करण
d0171cc60034 · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:13:46 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The Upaniṣad opens not with a statement but with a question — and the question comes not from doubters but from brahmavādinaḥ, "those whose speech is of Brahman", men already devoted to this subject. That sets the tone of the whole book: this is not a sermon for beginners but a council of experts who have come to a dead end.
There are six questions, and they are laid out like a proper investigation. What is the cause of the world? Whence did we come? By what do we live? On what do we rest? Who disposes of us? And why does life run now in joy and now in its opposite — by what rule (vyavasthā) are happiness and grief apportioned?
The first two words deserve particular attention: kiṁ kāraṇaṁ brahma. They are read in two ways, and both are legitimate. "What is the cause — is it Brahman?" — that is, is He the cause? And "what is the cause of Brahman?" — that is, what is the nature of that principle which goes by this word? The Upaniṣad deliberately leaves the question open: by its time the word "Brahman" meant both an impersonal expanse and a Person, and the answer will be given not by a dispute over words but by testimony, in the third mantra.
The last question — about happiness and suffering — is the most alive and the most uncomfortable. It is not about cosmology but about destiny: if someone disposes of me, then by what right and by what law? It is precisely this question that the Upaniṣad will answer with its central word — not "law" but "Lord"; and by the sixth mantra it will turn out that immortality is given not by solving the mechanism but by nearness to the One who governs it.
The Śvetāśvatara belongs to the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda and is named after the sage who taught it (his name is spoken at 6.21). Of all the Upaniṣads it is the most openly theistic: here the Highest is called God (deva) and Lord (īśa), and here too, at the very end, bhakti is named directly for the first time in śruti.