Upanishads · Chāndogya 6,9.1
॥
Devanāgarī
यथा सोम्य मधु मधुकृतः निस्तिष्ठन्ति नानात्ययानाम् वृक्षाणाम् रसान् समवहारम् एकताम् रसम् गमयन्ति
Transliteration (IAST)
yathā somya madhu madhukṛtaḥ nistiṣṭhanti nānātyayānām vṛkṣāṇām rasān samavahāram ekatām rasam gamayanti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यथाyathāhow; like
सोम्यsomyadear one; noble one
मधुmadhuhoney (madhu); honey; the sweetness
मधुकृतःmadhukṛtaḥthe bees (madhu-kṛt — 'the honey-makers'); the honey-makers; the bees
निस्तिष्ठन्तिnistiṣṭhantithey prepare it (nis + √sthā — 'to produce'); they make it; they build it up
नानात्ययानाम्nānātyayānāmof various (nānātyaya — 'of divers growth'); of many kinds; of different sorts
वृक्षाणाम्vṛkṣāṇāmof trees (vṛkṣa, genitive plural); of the trees; of trees
रसान्rasānthe saps (rasa); the nectars; the saps
समवहारम्samavahāramgathering them together (sam-avahāra — 'a bringing into one'); collecting; bringing together
एकताम्ekatāminto unity (ekatā); into one; into oneness
रसम्rasamthe sap; savour
गमयन्तिgamayantithey bring them (causative of √gam); they reduce them; they carry them
Translation
"As bees, my dear, in making honey gather the saps of different trees and bring them into a single sap,
Version
b0d305fd5c02 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:39:08 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first of the parables that clothe "you are that" in images: bees and honey. The saps of countless trees — mango, nīm, jasmine — are brought into one honey and reduced "to a single sap" (ekatāṁ rasam). So the souls of all beings, gathered into Being (in sleep, in death, at the end of a world), abide in him as one sweetness — without partitions, without labels.
The choice of image is no accident in the "honeyed" Chāndogya: the third chapter already saw the whole universe as the labour of bees — the Vedas as flowers, the sun as the honey of the gods (3.1–5). But here the honey is sweeter: it is about souls. And note that the parable speaks both of unity and — quietly — of preservation: the saps are brought together, not annihilated; the honey exists precisely because each sap brought itself. Unity in Being is not an emptiness but the fullness of what has been gathered.