उपनिषद् · Kaṭharudra 40
॥
देवनागरी
तथा तद्वृत्तिसंबन्धात्प्रमाणमिति कथ्यते । अज्ञातमपि चैतन्यं प्रमेयमिति कथ्यते
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
tathā tadvṛttisaṃbandhātpramāṇamiti kathyate | ajñātamapi caitanyaṃ prameyamiti kathyate
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
तथा तत्-वृत्ति-संबन्धात्tathā tat-vṛtti-saṃbandhātso, by connection with its state
प्रमाणम् इति कथ्यतेpramāṇam iti kathyateis called the measure
अ-ज्ञातम् अपि चैतन्यंa-jñātam api caitanyaṃeven unknown consciousness
प्रमेयम् इति कथ्यतेprameyam iti kathyateis called the knowable
अनुवाद
So, by connection with its state, is called the measure; and even unknown consciousness is called the knowable.
संस्करण
95f1ed8a68ee · प्रकाशित 7 अग॰ 2026, 1:56:05 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The mapping continues: consciousness connected with vṛtti, "a state, a movement of mind," is called the measure; unknown consciousness is called the knowable. Vṛtti is the central word in this science: it names the movement of mind by which it takes on the form of a thing. The mind, turning to a pot, "takes on the form of a pot"; this is its vṛtti, and by it one knows.
This explanation is subtle and, to my mind, correct as a description. In knowing, the mind truly becomes like: thinking of a person, we for a moment as it were become him, and thereby understand; thinking of a thing, we mentally trace its outline. That knowledge is described through likening, rather than through an imprint, is to this school's credit.
Another thing of the same quality is noted too: the unknown nevertheless exists. Ajñātam api caitanyaṃ prameyam, "and unknown consciousness is called the knowable": a thing no one thinks of does not cease to be a thing, and remains what can be known. This position matters more than it seems. It means that a thing's existence does not depend on whether any of us is looking at it; and so the world is not our representation.
The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this entirely and adds her own argument. If the unknown-to-us nevertheless exists, then there is also one by whom it is known: the unknown in general, by no one and never, would be indistinguishable from the nonexistent. Hence the Vedānta-sūtra calls the highest sarvajña, "all-knowing" (1.1.9) — not for the sake of grandeur, but because otherwise there would be nothing to say about the unknown at all.