Plain EnglishThe face of truth is covered by a golden vessel. Remove it, O Pūṣan, so that I, devoted to truth, may see it.
Layer 2 — What it means
The text shifts register completely. Verses 1–14 were philosophical statements. Verse 15 is a prayer — addressed to Pūṣan, the sun-god, the nourisher, one of the Ādityas. The dying person is speaking. And they are asking the sun — the source of all visible light — to remove its own golden lid. The face of truth (satyasya mukham) is hidden behind the radiance of the sun itself.
This is the Upaniṣad's most beautiful image: Brahman hidden behind the very thing that reveals it. The sun makes the world visible — and in doing so, it prevents us from seeing what is behind and beyond the sun. The light that illuminates conceals the source of light. The prayer is: remove the glare. Let me see the truth that your light is pointing toward.
Reading this page will give you the concept clearly. But the Upanishads were not written to be understood the way you understand chemistry or history. They were written to point toward something you can only recognise in yourself. That recognition is not on this page. This page only clears the way.
Plain EnglishThe face of truth is covered by a golden vessel. Remove it, O Pūṣan, so that I, devoted to truth, may see it.
Layer 2 — Philosophical meaning
Hiraṇmayena pātreṇa (golden vessel) — the sun's disc, which in Vedic cosmology is a lid over the opening between the manifest world and the Brahman-world beyond. The dying person is at the threshold: they have lived their life (satyadharmāya — devoted to truth and its law) and now ask for the veil to be lifted. Pūṣan (nourisher) is the same deity invoked in verse 16 — he is responsible for safe passage on journeys, including the journey of death. The verse initiates the Upaniṣad's three-verse dying prayer sequence (15–17), which concludes with the identification in verse 16: 'That person there — I am that person.' The Upaniṣad ends by pointing its final statement at the Mahāvākya.
Reading this page will give you the concept clearly. But the Upanishads were not written to be understood the way you understand chemistry or history. They were written to point toward something you can only recognise in yourself. That recognition is not on this page. This page only clears the way.
Plain EnglishThe face of truth is covered by a golden vessel. Remove it, O Pūṣan, so that I, devoted to truth, may see it.
Layer 2 — Scholarly and textual analysis
Reading this page will give you the concept clearly. But the Upanishads were not written to be understood the way you understand chemistry or history. They were written to point toward something you can only recognise in yourself. That recognition is not on this page. This page only clears the way.