आकाशः वै नाम नामरूपयोः निर्वहिता ते यत् अन्तरा तत् ब्रह्म तत् अमृतम् सः आत्मा प्रजापतेः सभाम् वेश्म प्रपद्ये यशः अहम् भवामि ब्राह्मणानाम् यशः राज्ञाम् यशः विशाम् यशः अहम् अनुप्रापत्सि सः ह अहम् यशसाम् यशः श्येतम् अदत्कम् अदत्कम् श्येतम् लिन्दु मा अभिगाम् लिन्दु मा अभिगाम्
ākāśaḥ vai nāma nāmarūpayoḥ nirvahitā te yat antarā tat brahma tat amṛtam saḥ ātmā prajāpateḥ sabhām veśma prapadye yaśaḥ aham bhavāmi brāhmaṇānām yaśaḥ rājñām yaśaḥ viśām yaśaḥ aham anuprāpatsi saḥ ha aham yaśasām yaśaḥ śyetam adatkam adatkam śyetam lindu mā abhigām lindu mā abhigām
Space is called the unfolder of name and form; that within which they are is Brahman, the immortal, the ātman. "I enter the assembly of Prajāpati, into his palace. I am the glory of the brāhmaṇas, the glory of the kings, the glory of the vaiśyas. Glory I have attained — I am the glory of glories. May I not enter the grey and toothless — the grey and toothless; may I not enter the slime, may I not enter the slime!"
699e9d884d5b · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:55:55 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The penultimate verse carries the ascent as far as the palace: "I enter the assembly of Prajāpati" — the liberated one enters not an unpeopled light but a sabhā, an assembly, a house: to the very end, company; to the very end, a Face. And a profession of glory: "I am the glory of brāhmaṇas, of kings, of vaiśyas… the glory of glories" (yaśasāṁ yaśaḥ) — a soul that has reached Home does not shrink into the humility of non-being but shines with all the glory that the estates of earth knew only in fragments.
And suddenly a last, almost childlike breath of prayer: "may I not enter the grey and toothless… may I not enter the slime!" (lindu mā abhigām). The grey and toothless is decrepitude; the slime is the waters of birth: do not let me back into a womb, do not let me into a new round! Beside the triumph of glory stands this trembling: even on the palace threshold the soul remembers where it came from and asks not to return. A prayer for no-return is the most honest of saṁsāra's prayers; the Gītā will answer it with a promise: mām upetya tu… punar janma na vidyate — "having attained Me, they find no rebirth" (BG 8.16).