Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 2.9
॥
Devanāgarī
इति ॥ ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्वं तस्य उपव्याख्यानं भूतं भव्यं भविष्यदिति सर्वमोङ्कार एव । यच्चान्यत् त्रिकालातीतं तदपि ओङ्कार एव । सर्वं ह्येतद्ब्रह्म । अयमात्मा ब्रह्म सोऽयमात्मा चतुष्पात्
Transliteration (IAST)
iti || omityetadakṣaramidaṃ sarvaṃ tasya upavyākhyānaṃ bhūtaṃ bhavyaṃ bhaviṣyaditi sarvamoṅkāra eva | yaccānyat trikālātītaṃ tadapi oṅkāra eva | sarvaṃ hyetadbrahma | ayamātmā brahma so'yamātmā catuṣpāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओम् इति एतत् अक्षरम्om iti etat akṣaram“Oṁ” — this syllable; the syllable named Oṁ
इदम् सर्वम्idam sarvamis all this; is this whole
तस्य उपव्याख्यानम्tasya upavyākhyānamits exposition; the interpretation of it
भूतम् भव्यम् भविष्यत् इतिbhūtam bhavyam bhaviṣyat itithe past, the present, the future; what was, what is, what shall be
सर्वम् ओङ्कारः एवsarvam oṅkāraḥ evaall is the Oṁkāra alone; everything is only the Oṁkāra
यत् च अन्यत् त्रिकालातीतम्yat ca anyat trikālātītamand what else is beyond the three times; and what other lies past the three times
तत् अपि ओङ्कारः एवtat api oṅkāraḥ evathat too is the Oṁkāra alone; that also is the Oṁkāra
सर्वम् हि एतत् ब्रह्मsarvam hi etat brahmafor all this is Brahman; since this whole is Brahman
अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्मayam ātmā brahmathis Ātman is Brahman; this ātman is Brahman
सः अयम् आत्मा चतुष्पात्saḥ ayam ātmā catuṣpātand this Ātman is four-footed; and this ātman has four feet
Translation
“Oṁ” — this syllable is all this. Its exposition is thus: the past, the present and the future — all this is the Oṁkāra; and what else is beyond the three times — that too is the Oṁkāra. For all this is Brahman; this Ātman is Brahman; and this Ātman is four-footed.
Version
7fc78628ad1c · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here the book takes the first two verses of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad and cites them word for word.
This is neither borrowing nor ornament. The Māṇḍūkya is the shortest of the chief Upaniṣads, twelve verses, and all of it is about the syllable Oṁ and the four feet of the Ātman. Tradition sets it so high as to say: it alone suffices for liberation.
By citing it entire, our book makes a declaration: that of which the Māṇḍūkya speaks is Rāma.
The preparation for this has been made already. Four paragraphs back the brothers were dealt out over the parts of Oṁ, and to Rāma fell the half-measure — that very “fourth” of which the Māṇḍūkya speaks in negations alone.
Now the ground is adduced.
Consider the first turn: “the past, the present and the future — all this is the Oṁkāra; and what is beyond the three times — that too is the Oṁkāra”. The syllable is named both time and what is outside time.
Recall the third verse of the second Upaniṣad of the pūrva: “in the seed ‘Rāma’ abides this world, moving and unmoving”. The same position was there said of the name; here — of the syllable.
The next five paragraphs will enumerate the four feet of the Ātman.