Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 100
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं अपानात्मने (नमः) ।
ओं तत्सद् भूर्भुवः
स्वस्तस्मै वै अपानात्मने नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
oṁ apānātmane (namaḥ) |
oṁ tatsad bhūrbhuvaḥ
svastasmai vai apānātmane namo namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं अपानात्मनेoṁ apānātmaneoṁ, to Him whose essence is apāna; oṁ, to the soul of the descending breath
नमःnamaḥobeisance; homage
ओं तत् सत्oṁ tat satoṁ, that is the truth; oṁ, that is the real
भूः भुवः स्वःbhūḥ bhuvaḥ svaḥearth, air, heaven; the three worlds
तस्मै वै अपानात्मनेtasmai vai apānātmaneto Him whose essence is apāna; to that very soul of apāna
नमः नमःnamaḥ namaḥobeisance and obeisance; homage again and again
Translation
Oṁ, obeisance to Him whose essence is apāna. Oṁ, that is the truth; earth, air, heaven. To Him whose essence is apāna, obeisance and obeisance.
Version
ca545252b6e5 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:34:47 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second of the five breaths: apāna, the prāṇa that moves downward and governs elimination.
There is nothing "low" in this list. The breath responsible for the most bodily of functions is named the same way as the others — "He whose essence is apāna" — and bowed to with the same words.
This agrees with the whole cast of the book. It described the abode through woods and cows, worship through milk and ghee, and the marks of yoga in the Śvetāśvatara included even the smallness of the bodily wastes. The bodily is nowhere separated here from the sacred.
The litany is arranged so that we bow in turn to the life-force within ourselves and to Him who moves it. Next will come samāna, udāna and vyāna, and between them the names: Pradyumna and Aniruddha, Rāma, the son of Devakī.
So the book's close turns out to be not an abstract summary but a list of obeisances that can be pronounced.