Verse 2.476

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

यस्यामतं तस्य मतं मतं यस्य न वेद सः ।
विदिताविदिताभ्यां तदन्यदेवेति हि श्रुतिः ॥ ४७६ ॥

yasyāmataṃ tasya mataṃ mataṃ yasya na veda saḥ |
viditāviditābhyāṃ tadanyadeveti hi śrutiḥ || 476 ||

English translation of verse 2.476:

“It is known to him to whom it is unknown; he does not know to whom it is known.” Śruti, indeed, says that (Brahman) is different from the known and the unknown.

Notes:

That a person who says, “I know Brahman,” does not know it, is stated in the Kena Upaniṣad (II, 3) which is quoted in the first line of the verse.

The second line of the verse refers to another text (I, 4) from the same Upaniṣad which says that Brahman is different from the known and that it is beyond the unknown. In the course of his commentary on this text, Śaṅkara observes: “Whatever is known is limited, mortal, and full of misery; and hence it is to be rejected. So when it is said that Brahman is different from the known, it amounts to asserting that it is not to be rejected. Similarly, when it is affirmed that it is different from the unknown, it amounts to saying that it is not a thing to be obtained.” So the śruti text which says that Brahman is different from the known and the unknown means that Brahman is not an object to be rejected or obtained.