Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,3.2
॥
Devanāgarī
सा इयम् देवता ऐक्षत हन्त अहम् इमाः तिस्रः देवताः अनेन जीवेन आत्मना अनुप्रविश्य नामरूपे व्याकरवाणि इति
Transliteration (IAST)
sā iyam devatā aikṣata hanta aham imāḥ tisraḥ devatāḥ anena jīvena ātmanā anupraviśya nāmarūpe vyākaravāṇi iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
साsāshe; that one
इयम्iyamthis; she
देवताdevatāthe Deity (devatā — here: Being itself); divine power; the Deity
ऐक्षतaikṣatait saw; it purposed
हन्तhantacome now (hanta — an exclamation of resolve); come now; so then
अहम्ahamI; I myself
इमाःimāḥthese; these here
तिस्रःtisraḥthree (feminine); the three; the triad
देवताःdevatāḥdeities; the powers
अनेनanenaby this; by means of this
जीवेनjīvenaas the living [soul] (jīva — 'the living self'); by the jīva; with the living soul
आत्मनाātmanāas the Ātman (ātman — 'as myself'); as Myself; with my own Self
अनुप्रविश्यanupraviśyahaving entered (anu-pra + √viś — 'to penetrate after'); having penetrated; having gone within
नामरूपेnāmarūpename and form (nāma-rūpa, dual); name and shape; the names-and-forms
व्याकरवाणिvyākaravāṇilet me unfold (vi-ā + √kṛ — 'to open out, to distinguish'); let me disclose; let me develop
इतिitithus; how
Translation
That deity thought: "Come, let me enter these three deities with this living ātman and unfold names and forms!"
Version
a4fc5d606f03 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:36:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Being's second great resolve — and perhaps the tenderest verse of the chapter: "let me enter them with this living ātman (anena jīvenātmanā) and unfold names and forms". Having created heat, waters and food, Being did not remain an overseer from outside — It entered. The world is not abandoned like a manufactured article; it is inhabited by its Maker from within, and every name and form is unfolded by his presence.
The words anena jīvena ātmanā — "with this living Self" — are precious to the Vedānta of bhakti: the jīva, the living soul, is here called Being's own — his ray, his living presence in every body, neither identical with him nor alien to him. The Lord enters creation as the soul of all souls and remains himself: "Pervading this whole universe with a fragment of Myself, I abide" (BG 10.42). The entering did not dissolve the Enterer.
Nāma-rūpa, "name and form", has ever since been Vedānta's term for the manifest world: everything that is, is someone's name and someone's shape, pronounced by Being from within. The world is not mute matter: it is all the speech of the One who entered.