Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,1.4
॥
Devanāgarī
यथा सोम्य एकेन मृत्पिण्डेन सर्वम् मृन्मयम् विज्ञातम् स्यात् वाचारम्भणम् विकारः नामधेयम् मृत्तिका इति एव सत्यम्
Transliteration (IAST)
yathā somya ekena mṛtpiṇḍena sarvam mṛnmayam vijñātam syāt vācārambhaṇam vikāraḥ nāmadheyam mṛttikā iti eva satyam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यथाyathāhow; like
सोम्यsomyadear one; noble one
एकेनekenaby one; by the single one
मृत्पिण्डेनmṛtpiṇḍenaby a lump of clay (mṛt-piṇḍa); by a clod of clay; by a piece of clay
सर्वम्sarvamall; entirely
मृन्मयम्mṛnmayamwhatever is of clay (mṛn-maya — 'made of clay'); consisting of clay; the clay-wares
विज्ञातम्vijñātamknown; what has been discerned
स्यात्syātcould be; it would become
वाचारम्भणम्vācārambhaṇama handle for speech (vācā-ārambhaṇa — 'that which speech takes hold of'); a reliance upon a word; an undertaking of speech
विकारःvikāraḥa modification (vikāra — 'a transformation'); an alteration; a variant form
नामधेयम्nāmadheyama name (nāma-dheya — 'an appellation'); a designation; appellation
मृत्तिकाmṛttikāclay (mṛttikā); clay as the substance; clay
इतिitithus; how
एवevaindeed; surely
सत्यम्satyamtruth (satya); the actual; the true
Translation
"Just as, my dear, by one lump of clay everything made of clay is known: the modification is only a name that speech has laid hold of; the truth is 'it is clay'.
Version
9e591b2ac755 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:34:59 PM UTC
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The first of the three illustrations of the great instruction: clay. Know one lump and you know everything made of clay — pots, jars, dishes. Their differences are real as forms, but all of them are states of one substance; vācārambhaṇaṁ vikāro nāmadheyam — "the modification is a name that speech has laid hold of". A pot is not an illusion — but its "potness" lives in a name and an outline; in substance it is clay, and the clay was before it and will remain after it.
Such is the relation of the world to Being: all the multiplicity of things are the "products" of one Reality, and one who knows Her knows everything at the root, as a potter knows the fate of every pot. Note: the example does not abolish the products — it gives them their ground. So Vaiṣṇava Vedānta reads these words: the world is not a phantom but a work; names and forms are not a deception but vessels moulded of the Lord's energy and for his table. The error is not in seeing the pots but in forgetting the clay.