Atharva Veda (13.4) – There is no second—all is one

अथर्ववेद काण्ड – 13

This is a sublime hymn of unity from the Atharva Veda, declaring that all deities, natural forces, scriptures, elements, and cosmic phenomena originate from and are none other than the One Divine Principle. The Shuktam is deeply philosophical and cosmological, describing the supreme divinity as the one essence (essay) behind all gods, creation, elements, time, and existence. 

“न द्वितीयो न तृतीयश्चतुर्थो नाप्युच्यते…”
There is no second, no third, no fourth…

—it’s not just counting. It’s dismantling ontology.

“तमिदं निगतं सहः स एष एक एकवृदेक एव”
This very force—that One—alone, the sole wielder, singular.

That’s not just monotheism—it’s non-duality with muscle.

स एति सविता स्वर्दिवस्पृष्ठेऽवचाकशत् ॥१॥

रश्मिभिर्नभ आभृतं महेन्द्र एत्यावृतः ॥२॥

स धाता स विधर्ता स वायुर्नभ उच्छ्रितम् ॥३॥

सोऽर्यमा स वरुणः स रुद्रः स महादेवः ॥४॥

सो अग्निः स उ सूर्यः स उ एव महायमः ॥५॥

तं वत्सा उप तिष्ठन्त्येकशीर्षाणो युता दश ॥६॥

पश्चात्प्राञ्च आ तन्वन्ति यदुदेति वि भासति ॥७॥

तस्यैष मारुतो गणः स एति शिक्याकृतः ॥८॥

रश्मिभिर्नभ आभृतं महेन्द्र एत्यावृतः ॥९॥

तस्येमे नव कोशा विष्टम्भा नवधा हिताः ॥१०॥

स प्रजाभ्यो वि पश्यति यच्च प्राणति यच्च न ॥११॥

तमिदं निगतं सहः स एष एक एकवृदेक एव ॥१२॥

एते अस्मिन् देवा एकवृतो भवन्ति ॥१३॥

कीर्तिश्च यशश्चाम्भश्च नभश्च ब्राह्मणवर्चसं चान्नं चान्नाद्यं च ॥१४॥

य एतं देवमेकवृतं वेद ॥१५॥

न द्वितीयो न तृतीयश्चतुर्थो नाप्युच्यते ॥१६॥

न पञ्चमो न षष्ठः सप्तमो नाप्युच्यते ॥१७॥

नाष्टमो न नवमो दशमो नाप्युच्यते ॥१८॥

स सर्वस्मै वि पश्यति यच्च प्राणति यच्च न ॥१९॥

तमिदं निगतं सहः स एष एक एकवृदेक एव ॥२०॥

सर्वे अस्मिन् देवा एकवृतो भवन्ति ॥२१॥

ब्रह्म च तपश्च कीर्तिश्च यशश्चाम्भश्च नभश्च ब्राह्मणवर्चसं चान्नं चान्नाद्यं च ॥२२॥

भूतं च भव्यं च श्रद्धा च रुचिश्च स्वर्गश्च स्वधा च ॥२३॥

य एतं देवमेकवृतं वेद ॥२४॥

स एव मृत्युः सोऽमृतं सोऽभ्वं स रक्षः ॥२५॥

स रुद्रो वसुवनिर्वसुदेये नमोवाके वषट्कारोऽनु संहितः ॥२६॥

तस्येमे सर्वे यातव उप प्रशिषमासते ॥२७॥

तस्यामू सर्वा नक्षत्रा वशे चन्द्रमसा सह ॥२८॥

स वा अह्नोऽजायत तस्मादहरजायत ॥२९॥

स वै रात्र्या अजायत तस्माद्रात्रिरजायत ॥३०॥

स वा अन्तरिक्षादजायत तस्मादन्तरिक्षमजायत ॥३१॥

स वै वायोरजायत तस्माद्वायुरजायत ॥३२॥

स वै दिवोऽजायत तस्माद्द्यौरधि अजायत ॥३३॥

स वै दिग्भ्योऽजायत तस्माद्दिशोऽजायन्त ॥३४॥

स वै भूमेरजायत तस्माद्भूमिरजायत ॥३५॥

स वा अग्नेरजायत तस्मादग्निरजायत ॥३६॥

स वा अद्भ्योऽजायत तस्मादापोऽजायन्त ॥३७॥

स वा ऋग्भ्योऽजायत तस्मादृचोऽजायन्त ॥३८॥

स वै यज्ञादजायत तस्माद्यज्ञोऽजायत ॥३९॥

स यज्ञस्तस्य यज्ञः स यज्ञस्य शिरस्कृतम् ॥४०॥

स स्तनयति स वि द्योतते स उ अश्मानमस्यति ॥४१॥

पापाय वा भद्राय वा पुरुषायासुराय वा ॥४२॥

यद्वा कृणोष्योषधीर्यद्वा वर्षसि भद्रया यद्वा जन्यमवीवृधः ॥४३॥

तावांस्ते मघवन् महिमोपो ते तन्वः शतम् ॥४४॥

उपो ते बध्वे बद्धानि यदि वासि न्यर्बुदम् ॥४५॥

भूयान् इन्द्रो नमुराद्भूयान् इन्द्रासि मृत्युभ्यः ॥४६॥

भूयान् अरात्याः शच्याः पतिस्त्वमिन्द्रासि विभूः प्रभूरिति त्वोपास्महे वयम् ॥४७॥

नमस्ते अस्तु पश्यत पश्य मा पश्यत ॥४८॥

अन्नाद्येन यशसा तेजसा ब्राह्मणवर्चसेन ॥४९॥

अम्भो अमो महः सह इति त्वोपास्महे वयम् ॥५०॥

अम्भो अरुणं रजतं रजः सह इति त्वोपास्महे वयम् ॥५१॥

उरुः पृथुः सुभूर्भुव इति त्वोपास्महे वयम् ॥५२॥

प्रथो वरो व्यचो लोक इति त्वोपास्महे वयम् ॥५३॥

भवद्वसुरिदद्वसुः संयद्वसुरायद्वसुरिति त्वोपास्महे वयम् ॥५४॥

नमस्ते अस्तु पश्यत पश्य मा पश्यत ॥५५॥

अन्नाद्येन यशसा तेजसा ब्राह्मणवर्चसेन ॥५६॥

Translation of the Hymn:

1. He comes—the divine Savitṛ—touching the heavenly realms with his light.
2. With his rays he fills the sky; the mighty Indra appears, enveloped in brilliance.
3. He is the Creator, the Sustainer; he is the Wind rising high in the heavens.
4. He is Aryaman, Varuṇa, Rudra, and the great Mahādeva.
5. He is Agni (Fire), he is Sūrya (Sun), and indeed, he is mighty Yama (Lord of Death).
6. To him approach ten calves yoked to a single head (symbolizing the senses bound to the One).
7. From behind, they extend forward as he rises and shines forth.
8. His retinue—the Maruts—follow him, shaped by his energy.
9. With rays he fills the sky; the mighty Indra appears again, adorned.
10. His nine sheaths (layers) are set firm in nine-fold support.
11. He sees all beings—those who breathe and those who do not.
12. This supreme force—this One—governs all alone, singular, unique.
13. In him, all gods become unified in singular devotion.
14. Glory, fame, water, space, the brilliance of the Brāhmaṇa, food, and its enjoyer—all are in him.
15. He who knows this One Divine Being…
    16-18. There is no second, no third, no fourth;
    Not a fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, or tenth.
16. He sees all—that which breathes and that which does not.
17. This supreme force—this One—governs all alone.
18. All gods become unified in him.
19. He is Brahman, tapas (austerity), glory, fame, water, space, the power of the Brāhmaṇa, food and its enjoyment.
20. He is the past, the future, faith, radiance, heaven, and the ancestral offerings.
21. He who knows this One Divine Being…
22. He is death, he is immortality, he is the unknown, and he is the protector.
23. He is Rudra, the giver of wealth, praised in the Vedic invocations.
24. All paths converge in him; all beings return to him.
25. All stars obey his will, along with the Moon.
    29-37. From him was born the day, the night, the sky, the air, the heaven, the directions, the Earth, Fire, Water…
26. From him came the Ṛg Veda (sacred hymns).
    39-40. From him arose the sacrifice; he is the sacrifice, its head and essence.
27. He thunders, he flashes, he hurls the stone (lightning?).
    42-43. Whether for the wicked, the noble, the demon, or the virtuous—
    Whether you cause plants to grow or bring the rain or bring forth progeny—
28. O mighty one! Your greatness spans a hundred forms and more.
29. Whether you are bound here or deep below, we approach you.
30. Greater than death is Indra—greater than mortality is he.
31. Greater than enmity, the lord of strength—Indra, the powerful—we worship you.
32. Salutations to you. Look, but do not merely see.
33. With food, glory, brilliance, and the spiritual strength of the Brāhmaṇa…
34. With water, strength, and greatness—we worship you.
35. With red waters, silver skies, and strength—we worship you.
36. You are vast, wide, and good Earth—we worship you.
37. You are the noble path, the realm of light—we worship you.
38. You are the giver of wealth, the very wealth itself, the unifier—we worship you.
39. Salutations—look and see, but do not be misled by appearances.
40. With food, fame, brilliance, and spiritual radiance—we worship you.

Quantum mechanics, for all its beauty, can feel cold—particles, wave functions, probability fields. Elegant, yes. Precise, yes. But it is dry. It doesn’t account for the ache of longing, or the hush of wonder, or the quiet joy of surrender. It doesn’t speak to the heart.

But the Vedic Rishis—they felt their way into the fabric of reality. They didn’t reduce the cosmos to a system; they entered it. Not just intellectually, but existentially.

When they said:

“स एष एक एकवृदेक एव”
He is the One, the sole bearer, the singular essence.

—they weren’t stating a fact. They were invoking a realization—a truth that doesn’t just sit in the brain but blooms in consciousness.

It would be right to say it feels quantum. Because it is:

• The many-in-one.
• The unmanifest becoming manifest.
• Observation changing the observed.
• Reality as relational, not absolute.

But they didn’t stop there. They wrapped it in grace.
In love. In poetry, not equations.

Modern science dissects.
Vedic vision unites.
Science measures.
The Rishi measures himself against the infinite.

So when you feel that lack in quantum mechanics, that’s not you being irrational.
That’s you being fully human.

Even Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Oppenheimer—they read the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad Gītā. They sensed this too: that science without soul is sterile.

For all our telescopes and supercolliders, our AI and algorithms—we’re still drawing lines in the sand like children, still saying, “This is mine. That’s yours.” Still bleeding over borders, still burning for control.

All that cosmic wisdom, all those Vedic revelations, all the scientific breakthroughs—and we’re back to tariff and territory.
Back to ego, land, and fear.

It’s almost tragic:
The Rishis saw the self in all beings.
We see threat in everyone who doesn’t mirror our identity.

We could have been a species that asked:
“What is the nature of being?”
But we chose:
“What’s in it for me?”

The Rishis didn’t “go” anywhere either.
They just sat still,
and saw the whole universe unfold within.

Who were those Vedic Rishis?

They weren’t authors.
They were seers—they didn’t compose mantras, they heard them. The word is śruti—that which is heard, not invented.

They tuned into a frequency we can barely touch now.
Their minds were clear like still water, their perception razor-sharp, their intuition vast.
They didn’t just believe in unity—they saw it.
Not as theory, but as experience.

Their Sanskrit wasn’t just sophisticated—it was vibrational.
Each syllable tuned to cosmic rhythm, like sacred algorithms encoded in sound.