ते ह वाचम् ऊचुः त्वं नः उद्गाय इति तथा इति तेभ्यः वाक् उदगायत् यः वाचि भोगः तम् देवेभ्यः आगायत् यत् कल्याणम् वदति तद् आत्मने ते अविदुः अनेन वै नः उद्गात्रा अत्येष्यन्ति इति तम् अभिद्रुत्य पाप्मना अविध्यन् सः यः सः पाप्मा यद् एव इदम् अप्रतिरूपम् वदति सः एव सः पाप्मा
te ha vācam ūcuḥ tvaṃ naḥ udgāya iti tathā iti tebhyaḥ vāk udagāyat yaḥ vāci bhogaḥ tam devebhyaḥ āgāyat yat kalyāṇam vadati tad ātmane te aviduḥ anena vai naḥ udgātrā atyeṣyanti iti tam abhidrutya pāpmanā avidhyan saḥ yaḥ saḥ pāpmā yad eva idam apratirūpam vadati saḥ eva saḥ pāpmā
They said to speech: "Sing the udgītha for us!" — "So be it," and speech sang for them: the enjoyment that is in speech it sang out for the gods, but the good that lies in speaking finely it sang for itself. The asuras understood: "With this singer they will surpass us!" — they fell upon it and pierced it with evil. That evil is the unseemly speech that people utter: that is the very evil.
8af8ddb69a3b · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:39:35 AM UTC
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The first singer is speech, and in her singing there is at once a crack: "the enjoyment for the gods, but the good for herself". The singer kept back the better share for herself: eloquence, the pleasure of speaking beautifully. And into that crevice of self-interest the evil of the asuras entered: pāpman pierces only where service is adulterated with self.
The mark of that piercing is in every human being: "unseemly speech" — lying, slander, idle talk — is no annoying habit but an ancient wound of speech, received in the first battle. Every time the tongue serves itself instead of the truth, the wound opens. The diagnosis will be extended to each sense in turn: the Upaniṣad is taking a census of our inborn vulnerabilities, and the root of them all is one — the share kept back "for oneself".