Upanishads · Praśna 5.6
॥
Devanāgarī
तिस्रो मात्रा मृत्युमत्यः प्रयुक्ता अन्योन्यसक्ता अनविप्रयुक्ताः ।
क्रियासु बाह्याभ्यन्तरमध्यमासु सम्यक्प्रयुक्तासु न कम्पते ज्ञः
Transliteration (IAST)
tisro mātrā mṛtyumatyaḥ prayuktā anyonyasaktā anaviprayuktāḥ /
kriyāsu bāhyābhyantaramadhyamāsu samyakprayuktāsu na kampate jñaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तिस्रः मात्राःtisraḥ mātrāḥthe three measures; the three mātrās
मृत्युमत्यःmṛtyumatyaḥdeadly, bound up with death (mṛtyu-mat); belong to [the realm of] death; are mortal
प्रयुक्ताःprayuktāḥapplied; used
अन्योन्यसक्ताःanyonyasaktāḥlinked to one another (anyonya-sakta); mutually joined; bound into one
अनविप्रयुक्ताःanaviprayuktāḥnot disjoined (an-avi-prayukta); not scattered; not separated
क्रियासुkriyāsuin actions; in the practices
बाह्य-अभ्यन्तर-मध्यमासुbāhya-abhyantara-madhyamāsuouter, inner and middle; external, internal and intermediate
सम्यक्-प्रयुक्तासुsamyak-prayuktāsurightly applied; duly employed
न कम्पतेna kampatedoes not waver (from √kamp — 'to tremble'); does not tremble; is unshaken
ज्ञःjñaḥthe knowing one (jña); aware of; wise
Translation
"The three measures are deadly [if] applied severally; but [if] linked to one another and undisjoined — in actions outer, inner and middle, rightly applied — the knower does not waver."
Version
65389e00562c · published Jul 26, 2026, 8:35:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first of the two promised sealing verses is a warning about wholeness. tisro mātrā mṛtyumatyaḥ — "the three measures are mortal/deadly": each mora taken apart belongs to the realm of death — it leads to worlds where men die (earth, the mid-region — verses 55–56); prayuktā anyonya-saktā anaviprayuktāḥ — "but applied in linkage with one another, undisjoined" — that is, the syllable taken as one whole, as an indivisible Name — sets free.
kriyāsu bāhyābhyantara-madhyamāsu samyak-prayuktāsu — "in actions outer, inner and middle, rightly applied": the contemplation of Oṁ must run through all three storeys of doing — the bodily (outer), the mental (inner) and the vocal (the middle — the whisper, the breath): the whole life, on all its floors, tuned to one pitch. Then — na kampate jñaḥ — "the knower does not waver": unshakenness as the mark of a wholeness attained.
The lesson is vivid: even the sacred, when fragmented, serves death; the same sacred entire serves immortality. This holds not for the syllable alone: faith taken in pieces (rite without heart, knowledge without life — all the "one-sidednesses" of the Īśa and the Kena) stays within the mortal round; what saves is the whole. The Name must be uttered with the whole of oneself — then it carries the whole of one.