Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 4.40
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं यो ह वै श्रीरामचन्द्रः स भगवान् याश्चतस्रोऽर्धमात्राः भूर्भुवः सुवस्तस्मै वै नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ yo ha vai śrīrāmacandraḥ sa bhagavān yāścatasro'rdhamātrāḥ bhūrbhuvaḥ suvastasmai vai namo namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं यः ह वै श्रीरामचन्द्रःoṃ yaḥ ha vai śrīrāmacandraḥOṁ. He who is Śrī-Rāmacandra; Oṁ. The very one who is Śrī-Rāmacandra
सः भगवान्saḥ bhagavānhe is the Lord; he indeed is Bhagavān
याः चतस्रः अर्धमात्राःyāḥ catasraḥ ardhamātrāḥwhich are the four half-measures; those that are the four ardha-mātrās
भूर्भुवः सुवःbhūrbhuvaḥ suvaḥearth, mid-air, heaven; bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ
तस्मै वै नमः नमःtasmai vai namaḥ namaḥto him be bow upon bow; to him worship and worship
Translation
Oṁ. He who is Śrī-Rāmacandra — He is the Lord, and He is that which is the four half-measures. Earth, mid-air, heaven! To him be bow upon bow.
Version
4504b829e3c0 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The fortieth mantra names “the four half-measures”.
Ardha-mātrā — “the half-measure” — stood already in the sixth paragraph of the second chapter of the uttara, where it was given to Rāma: the three sounds of Oṁ fell to the three brothers, and the half-measure to Him.
There it was one. Here they are four.
This count belongs to the detailed analyses of the Oṁkāra which the various tāpanī Upaniṣads conduct: after the three sounds “a”, “u”, “m” the syllable does not end but thins away, and in this thinning several portions are distinguished — bindu, nāda and further, down to complete soundlessness.
We met the nāda and the bindu in the fiftieth verse of the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva, where the diagram's outer lotus was furnished with them, and in the third paragraph of the second chapter of the uttara, where they were the fifth and sixth sounds of the tāraka.
The four half-measures, then, are what remains when the sound has already died away.
And this is named He. Not the sound, but the dying-away of the sound.