उक्थं ब्रह्मेति ह स्माह शुष्कभृङ्गरस्तदृगित्युपासीत सर्वाणि हास्मै भूतानि श्रैष्ठ्यायाभ्यर्च्यन्ते तद्यजुरित्युपासीत सर्वाणि हास्मै भूतानि श्रैष्ठ्याय युज्यन्ते तत्सामेत्युपासीत सर्वाणि हास्मै भूतानि श्रैष्ठ्याय सन्नमन्ते तच्छ्रीरित्युपासीत तद्यश इत्युपासीत तत्तेज इत्युपासीत तद्यथैतच्छास्त्राणां श्रीमत्तमं यशस्वितमं तेजस्वितमं भवति । तथैवैवं विद्वान्सर्वेषां भूतानां श्रीमत्तमो यशस्वितमस्तेजस्वितमो भवति । तमेतमैष्टकं कर्ममयमात्मानमध्वर्युः संस्करोति तस्मिन्यजुर्मयं प्रवयति यजुर्मयम् ऋङ्मयं होता ऋङ्मये साममयमुद्गाता स एष सर्वस्यै त्रयीविद्याया आत्मैष उ एवास्यात्मा एतदात्मा भवति य एवं वेद
ukthaṃ brahmeti ha smāha śuṣkabhṛṅgarastadṛgityupāsīta sarvāṇi hāsmai bhūtāni śraiṣṭhyāyābhyarcyante tadyajurityupāsīta sarvāṇi hāsmai bhūtāni śraiṣṭhyāya yujyante tatsāmetyupāsīta sarvāṇi hāsmai bhūtāni śraiṣṭhyāya sannamante tacchrīrityupāsīta tadyaśa ityupāsīta tatteja ityupāsīta tadyathaitacchāstrāṇāṃ śrīmattamaṃ yaśasvitamaṃ tejasvitamaṃ bhavati | tathaivaivaṃ vidvānsarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ śrīmattamo yaśasvitamastejasvitamo bhavati | tametamaiṣṭakaṃ karmamayamātmānamadhvaryuḥ saṃskaroti tasminyajurmayaṃ pravayati yajurmayam ṛṅmayaṃ hotā ṛṅmaye sāmamayamudgātā sa eṣa sarvasyai trayīvidyāyā ātmaiṣa u evāsyātmā etadātmā bhavati ya evaṃ veda
“The uktha is Brahman” — so said Śuṣkabhṛṅgāra. Let him revere it as the ṛc — and all beings pay him homage as the foremost. Let him revere it as the yajus — and all beings are yoked to him as the foremost. Let him revere it as the sāman — and all beings bow down to him as the foremost. Let him revere it as fortune, let him revere it as glory, let him revere it as radiance. And as among all scriptures it is the most fortunate, the most glorious and the most radiant, so the one who knows this becomes among all beings the most fortunate, the most glorious and the most radiant. This body, built of bricks and of rite, the adhvaryu perfects; into it he weaves what is made of yajus; into the yajus-made the hotṛ weaves what is made of ṛc; into the ṛc-made the udgātṛ weaves what is made of sāman. And it is the self of the whole threefold knowledge; and it is also the self of him who knows thus, and this self he becomes.
04dd946afb95 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:43:45 AM UTC
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Another identification, and again from a new teacher: “the uktha is Brahman”. The uktha is the laudation recited in the soma rite; here it is named the Highest.
The order of contemplation is built along the three Vedas, and each has its own fruit. Revered as the ṛc — the hymn — it grants that beings “pay homage”; as the yajus — the sacrificial formula — that they “are yoked”, harnessed into common work; as the sāman — the chant — that they “bow down”. Notice the difference: homage, co-operation, obeisance. The three Vedas give three distinct ways of being first among others.
Then three names are added no longer tied to the Vedas: śrī, yaśas, tejas — fortune, glory, radiance. And the argument is built as an analogy: as the uktha stands first among songs, so the knower stands first among beings. The fruit is commensurate with the object of contemplation — a rule the Upaniṣads apply throughout.
The mantra's second half speaks of the building of the sacrificial altar, and speaks in the language of weaving. The adhvaryu lays up out of bricks “a body consisting of rite”; into it are woven the yajuses, into the yajuses the ṛcs, into the ṛcs the sāmans. So the three priests weave a single fabric, and each layer rests on the one before.
And the conclusion: what is thus composed is “the self of the whole threefold knowledge”. The Veda, that is, is not three collections but one body possessed of its own “I”.
The last words carry this over to the man: “it is also the self of him who knows thus, and this self he becomes”. Here works the same rule as in the Gopāla-tāpanī's analysis of the mantra: the repeater takes on the nature of the repeated. He who contemplates the uktha as Brahman becomes what he contemplates.