Principal Upanishad · Krishna Yajurveda
Katha Upanishad 2.20
Smaller than the small, greater than the great
अणोरणीयान्महतो महीयानात्माऽस्य जन्तोर्निहितो गुहायाम्।
The Self is smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest. It is hidden in the heart of every being.
What this verse points to
Two impossible measurements in one line, which is how the text signals that measurement is the wrong tool. Something that is simultaneously the smallest and the largest is not a size at all.
The second half relocates it: hidden in the cave of the heart of every being. Not far away — near, and overlooked precisely because of the nearness.
Sit with it
Let attention settle at the centre of the chest and rest there without looking for anything in particular.
About the Katha Upanishad
Framed as a dialogue between the boy Nachiketa and Yama, lord of death, who grants him three boons. Nachiketa spends the third on the question of what survives death. The text contains the well-known image of the body as a chariot, with the senses as horses and the intellect as charioteer.
References to this text are given as section.verse — here, 2.20.