उपनिषद् · Rudrahṛdaya 28
॥
देवनागरी
द्वे विद्ये वेदितव्ये हि परा चैवापरा च ते । तत्रापरा तु विद्यैषा ऋग्वेदो यजुरेव च
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
dve vidye veditavye hi parā caivāparā ca te | tatrāparā tu vidyaiṣā ṛgvedo yajureva ca
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
द्वे विद्ये वेदितव्ये हिdve vidye veditavye hitwo sciences must be known, indeed
परा च एवparā ca evathe higher, indeed
अ-परा च तेa-parā ca teand the lower — these
तत्र अ-परा तु विद्या एषाtatra a-parā tu vidyā eṣāof these, the lower science is this
ऋग्-वेदः यजुः एव चṛg-vedaḥ yajuḥ eva cathe Ṛgveda and the Yajurveda
अनुवाद
"Two sciences must be known: the higher, and the lower. Of these, the lower science is this: the Ṛgveda and the Yajurveda …"
संस्करण
6fa933649c44 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The famous passage of the Muṇḍaka (1.1.4–5) is cited — the division of knowledge into parā and aparā, "higher" and "lower"; and all four Vedas, with all the auxiliary sciences, are counted among the lower. This passage is cited constantly in disputes, and usually incorrectly. It is read thus: the Vedas are the lower, and the higher is the silent knowledge of Brahman; and so the Vedas can be set aside.
Let me answer this with what stands in the original itself. The word aparā means not "bad" and not "false," but "not-highest, nearer, prior"; and the Muṇḍaka, having declared the Vedas lower, continues to set forth its teaching in the verses of the Vedas and with references to them. If the lower were canceled, there would be nothing to reference.
The correct reading, to my mind, is this. The lower knowledge is knowledge of things: how to perform a rite, how to build, how to reckon, how to pronounce. The higher is knowledge of the One who exists. The first is enumerable and transmitted by a book; the second is transmitted by a person, and changes the knower.
The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this distinction and adds her own to it. The Veda is not canceled precisely because it also contains the higher: the Muṇḍaka itself is the Veda, and the verse about the two sciences is too. To cancel it would mean canceling this verse as well.
It is worth noting also the phrase veditavye hi, "must be known" — about both. It is not said "leave the lower behind"; it is said that both must be known, and the higher is placed not instead of the lower, but after it.