Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 7
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् यश् च वायुस् तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān yaś ca vāyus tasmai vai namonamaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यः वै रुद्रःyaḥ vai rudraḥhe who is Rudra; the one who is Rudra
सः भगवान्saḥ bhagavānhe is the Lord; he indeed is the Bhagavān
यः च वायुःyaḥ ca vāyuḥand who is Vāyu; and the one who is Vāyu
तस्मै वै नमः नमःtasmai vai namaḥ namaḥto him be homage and homage; to him obeisance and obeisance
Translation
He who is Rudra — He is the Lord, and He is Vāyu. To Him be homage and homage.
Version
07fec52c3e40 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
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The sixth name is Vāyu, the wind.
In the Upaniṣads wind and breath are in essence one word: that which moves and enlivens. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka calls the wind “the thread” on which the worlds are strung; the Kauṣītaki says that in sleep all the senses enter prāṇa, and prāṇa is the wind within.
Hence this name stands in the litany not as the name of an element, but as the name of that by which everything holds.
Note the echo of the Rāma-tāpanī: the eleventh mantra of its litany calls Rāma prāṇa, the breath. Here the same — only the outer name is given.
Wind and breath, then, are one for these books; and when it is said that He is the wind, it is said that He is what you breathe.
And further: the wind is not seen. One sees how it bends the trees. That is the image of what the whole litany is about: the invisible, known by the movement of everything else.