एतस्य वा अक्षरस्य प्रशासने गार्गि सूर्यचन्द्रमसौ विधृतौ तिष्ठतः एतस्य वा अक्षरस्य प्रशासने गार्गि द्यावापृथिव्यौ विधृते तिष्ठतः एतस्य वा अक्षरस्य प्रशासने गार्गि निमेषाः मुहूर्ताः अहोरात्राणि अर्धमासाः मासाः ऋतवः संवत्सराः इति विधृताः तिष्ठन्ति एतस्य वा अक्षरस्य प्रशासने गार्गि प्राच्यः अन्याः नद्यः स्यन्दन्ते श्वेतेभ्यः पर्वतेभ्यः प्रतीच्यः अन्याः याम् याम् च दिशम् अनु एतस्य वा अक्षरस्य प्रशासने गार्गि मनुष्याः प्रशसन्ति यजमानम् देवाः दर्वीम् पितरो अन्वायत्ताः
etasya vā akṣarasya praśāsane gārgi sūryacandramasau vidhṛtau tiṣṭhataḥ etasya vā akṣarasya praśāsane gārgi dyāvāpṛthivyau vidhṛte tiṣṭhataḥ etasya vā akṣarasya praśāsane gārgi nimeṣāḥ muhūrtāḥ ahorātrāṇi ardhamāsāḥ māsāḥ ṛtavaḥ saṃvatsarāḥ iti vidhṛtāḥ tiṣṭhanti etasya vā akṣarasya praśāsane gārgi prācyaḥ anyāḥ nadyaḥ syandante śvetebhyaḥ parvatebhyaḥ pratīcyaḥ anyāḥ yām yām ca diśam anu etasya vā akṣarasya praśāsane gārgi manuṣyāḥ praśasanti yajamānam devāḥ darvīm pitaro anvāyattāḥ
"At the command of this Akṣara, Gārgī, the sun and the moon stand held apart. At the command of this Akṣara, Gārgī, the sky and the earth stand held apart. At the command of this Akṣara, Gārgī, moments, hours, days and nights, half-months, months, seasons and years stand held apart. At the command of this Akṣara, Gārgī, some rivers flow eastward from the white mountains, others westward, each on its own way. At the command of this Akṣara, Gārgī, men praise the giver, the gods follow the sacrificer, the fathers follow the ladle of the dead."
fc1bdc8ba972 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:04:09 AM UTC
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After the cataract of negations comes a cataract of sovereign affirmations, and their pivot is one word: praśāsane, "at the command". The sun and the moon do not fall upon each other, sky and earth "stand held apart", time keeps its ranks from the instant to the year, the rivers from the "white mountains" (the Himālayas) each run their own way — all at the order of the Akṣara. The not-not-not turns out to be a Commander: the apophasis was not about an emptiness but about a Sovereign who falls under none of his subjects' definitions.
This verse is a watershed of interpretations, and the Vedānta of bhakti stands firmly on it: the impersonal has no praśāsana, no command; what orders is a Will, what rules is a Ruler. Gārgī's Akṣara and Uddālaka's antaryāmin are one Person in two approaches: there "he rules from within", here "at his command they stand". And the last line brings the sovereignty down to human ethics: even the fact that "men praise the giver" is His institution — our very gratitude to the generous is written into the constitution of the Imperishable.