इयं पृथिवी सर्वेषाम् भूतानाम् मधु अस्यै पृथिव्यै सर्वाणि भूतानि मधु यः च अयम् अस्याम् पृथिव्याम् तेजोमयः अमृतमयः पुरुषः यः च अयम् अध्यात्मं शारीरः तेजोमयः अमृतमयः पुरुषः अयम् एव सः यः अयम् आत्मा इदम् अमृतम् इदम् ब्रह्म इदम् सर्वम्
iyaṃ pṛthivī sarveṣām bhūtānām madhu asyai pṛthivyai sarvāṇi bhūtāni madhu yaḥ ca ayam asyām pṛthivyām tejomayaḥ amṛtamayaḥ puruṣaḥ yaḥ ca ayam adhyātmaṃ śārīraḥ tejomayaḥ amṛtamayaḥ puruṣaḥ ayam eva saḥ yaḥ ayam ātmā idam amṛtam idam brahma idam sarvam
This earth is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of this earth. And the shining immortal person who is in the earth, and the shining immortal person who is in the body as flesh — that is this ātman. This is the immortal, this is Brahman, this is all.
e0b05293ab5b · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:55:53 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here begins the madhu-vidyā, the "teaching of honey" — a hymn of universal reciprocity in fourteen waves with one refrain. The formula is simple and inexhaustible: the earth is the honey (madhu) of all beings, and beings are the honey of the earth: everything that is, is sweetness for everything else, a mutual feeding and a mutual gladness; the world is bound together not by law only but by honey — the sweet exchange of life.
And in every pair there is a third: "the shining immortal person" (tejomayo 'mṛtamayaḥ puruṣaḥ) both in the earth and in the body — and he "is this ātman". The outward and the inward are sweet to each other because in both there is one Sweet One; the honey of the exchange is His presence on both sides. The refrain ayam eva sa yo 'yam ātmā… idam amṛtam idaṁ brahma idaṁ sarvam will be repeated fourteen times, like the strokes of a honey-bearing bell.
One who has heard the Bhāgavatam recognises the tone: madhuraṁ madhuram — "sweet is the Sweet One"; in bhakti the teaching of honey becomes the teaching of rasa: God is not only the truth of all truths (2.1.20) but the sweetness of all sweetnesses, and all the mutual tenderness of the universe is the pouring of His honey.