Upanishads · Bṛhadāraṇyaka 3,2.3
॥
Devanāgarī
वाक् वै ग्रहः सः नाम्नातिग्रहेण गृहीतः वाचा हि नामानि अभिवदति
Transliteration (IAST)
vāk vai grahaḥ saḥ nāmnātigraheṇa gṛhītaḥ vācā hi nāmāni abhivadati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वाक्vākspeech; the voice
वैvaitruly; indeed
ग्रहःgrahaḥthe seizer; the organ of seizing
सःsaḥhe; that one
नाम्नातिग्रहेणnāmnātigraheṇaby name as over-grasper (nāmnā atigraheṇa); by the name-seizer; by name
गृहीतःgṛhītaḥis grasped; is caught
वाचाvācāwith speech; with the word
हिhiindeed; truly
नामानिnāmānithe names (nāman, acc. pl.); names; names
अभिवदतिabhivadatithey pronounce (abhi + √vad); they utter; they utter
Translation
Speech is a grasper; it is grasped by name as the over-grasper: for by speech one utters names.
Version
5d87c17460e9 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:59:58 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second pair: speech and name. A speaker thinks he owns his words — but speech exists only for the sake of what is named and is therefore a prisoner of names: what is in the language can be said; of what has no name, speech is dumb.
The captivity of speech to the name is the daily experience of everyone who has searched for a word and not found it: we do not steer the tongue — what is to be named steers us. There is only one freedom here, and the whole Upaniṣad is about it: to serve with speech the One from whom names arise (1.6.1) — then captivity becomes service.