Upanishads · Praśna 5.2
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मै स होवाच ।
एतद् वै सत्यकाम परं चापरं च ब्रह्म यद् ओंकारः ।
तस्माद् विद्वान् एतेनैवायतनेनैकतरम् अन्वेति
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmai sa hovāca |
etad vai satyakāma paraṃ cāparaṃ ca brahma yad oṃkāraḥ |
tasmād vidvān etenaivāyatanenaikataram anveti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मै सः ह उवाचtasmai saḥ ha uvācato him he said; the seer answered him
एतत् वैetat vaithis, truly; this precisely
सत्यकामsatyakāmaO Satyakāma; Satyakāma
परम् चparam caand the higher (para); and the transcendent; and the sovereign
अपरम् चaparam caand the lower (apara — 'the nearer'); and the manifest; and the this-worldly
ब्रह्मbrahmaBrahman; the sacred reality
यत् ओंकारःyat oṃkāraḥwhich is the Oṁkāra; namely the syllable Oṁ
तस्मात्tasmāttherefore; for that reason
विद्वान्vidvānknowing; wise
एतेन एवetena evaby this very; by it alone
आयतनेनāyatanenaas the support (āyatana — 'the containing base'); as the refuge; as the foundation
एकतरम्ekataramone of the two (ekatara); the one or the other; either one
अन्वेतिanvetihe attains (anu-√i); attains; comes
Translation
He said to him: "O Satyakāma, the syllable Oṁ is both the higher and the lower Brahman. Therefore the knower, [leaning] upon this support, attains one of the two."
Version
e00bbc8aaa9b · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:35:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The answer opens with a great equation: etad vai satyakāma paraṁ cāparaṁ ca brahma yad oṅkāraḥ — "Oṁ is both the higher (para) and the lower (apara) Brahman". One syllable contains both steps of Reality: Brahman manifest — the world, the powers, Hiraṇyagarbha — and Brahman transcendent, the Imperishable of the fourth question. Sound is a bridge thrown across the whole vertical of being.
tasmād vidvān etenaivāyatanena — "therefore the knower, by this support (āyatana — the same word by which the Kaṭha called Oṁ an ālambana, a support)" — ekataram anveti — "attains one of the two": as far as the contemplator carries his contemplation, so far the syllable will carry him. Oṁ is not an automaton of fulfilment but a road of its full length: one may walk it to the first station, or to the end.
Herein lies the royal honesty of the Vedic teaching on mantra: the sound is holy entire, but it opens in the measure of the fullness put into it — of consciousness, faith, constancy. The next three verses will lay out that measure across the three morae of the syllable — a, u, m: three depths of one Name, three destinies of one path.