Upanishads · Chāndogya 1,1.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ओम् इति एतत् अक्षरम् उद्गीथम् उपासीत ओम् इति हि उद्गायति तस्य उपव्याख्यानम्
Transliteration (IAST)
om iti etat akṣaram udgītham upāsīta om iti hi udgāyati tasya upavyākhyānam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओम्omoṁ; the sacred syllable
इतिitithus; how
एतत्etatthis; all this
अक्षरम्akṣaramthe syllable; the letter
उद्गीथम्udgīthamthe udgītha (udgītha — 'the exalted chant', ud-√gai); the high chant; the udgītha-utterance
उपासीतupāsītait is to be venerated (upa-√ās — 'to sit beside, to contemplate'); let him contemplate; is to be revered
ओम्omoṁ; the sacred syllable
इतिitithus; how
हिhiindeed; truly
उद्गायतिudgāyatithey sing the udgītha (ud-√gai); they call out; they strike up the chant
तस्यtasyait; concerning this
उपव्याख्यानम्upavyākhyānamthe exposition (upa-vi-ā-√khyā); the explanation; the interpretation
Translation
Oṁ! This syllable is to be venerated as the udgītha — for it is with Oṁ that the udgītha is begun. Here is the exposition of it.
Version
103f9cacd28e · published Jul 26, 2026, 10:28:09 PM UTC
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The Chāndogya is the Upaniṣad of the singers of the Sāma-veda, and it opens with their holy thing: om ity etad akṣaram udgītham upāsīta — "this syllable Oṁ is to be venerated as the udgītha". The udgītha is "the exalted chant" (ud-√gai — "to sing upward"), the core of the sāman rite, intoned by the udgātṛ priest; and the first word of that chant is always Oṁ. The Upaniṣad bids us not merely to sing it but upāsīta — to venerate, to contemplate: to make the syllable an object of the inward gaze.
So the method of the whole vast book is set: upāsanā, a venerating contemplation in which the visible (a sound, a rite, an element) is taken as a window into the invisible. The Chāndogya will teach no new rites but a new sight of the old ones: the very syllable a priest has sung for ages discloses itself as "the essence of essences" (the next verses), as the very support of the world. tasyopavyākhyānam — "here is its exposition": an invitation into the sound by which the whole Sāma-veda breathes.