Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 23
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् यच् चामृतं तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān yac cāmṛtaṃ 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
यत् च अमृतम्yat ca amṛtamand which is the immortal; and that which is amṛta
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 the immortal. To Him be homage and homage.
Version
51daa7084944 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Amṛta — “non-death”: the word is formed by the direct negation of what stood in the previous section.
Four sections in a row went toward the end — time, Yama, death; and now the fifth breaks the row.
What matters is that there is no opposition here. It is not said “death is terrible, but He is stronger”: it is said that death is He, and immortality is He.
This is what distinguishes such theology from consolation. Consolation opposes one thing to another; here there is nothing to oppose, because the subject is one.
The word amṛta also means “the drink of immortality” — the one won at the churning of the ocean. Both senses work: immortality is not only a state but something that is tasted.
The thirty-third section of this book will quote the ancient cry: “we have drunk the soma, we have become immortal, we have come to the light, we have found the gods”.
There it will be spoken by those who have already crossed.