तस्योत्तरतः शिरोदक्षिणतः पादौ य उत्तरतः स ओंकारः य ओंकारः स प्रणवः यः प्रणवः स सर्वव्यापी यः सर्वव्यापी सो ऽनन्तः यो ऽनन्तस् तत् तारं यत् तारं तच् छुक्लं यच् छुक्लं तत् सूक्ष्मं यत् सूक्ष्मं तद् वैद्युतं यद् वैद्युतं तत् परं ब्रह्म यत् परं ब्रह्म स एकः यः एकः स रुद्रः यो रुद्रः स ईशानः य ईशानः स भगवान् महेश्वरः
tasyottarataḥ śirodakṣiṇataḥ pādau ya uttarataḥ sa oṃkāraḥ ya oṃkāraḥ sa praṇavaḥ yaḥ praṇavaḥ sa sarvavyāpī yaḥ sarvavyāpī so 'nantaḥ yo 'nantas tat tāraṃ yat tāraṃ tac chuklaṃ yac chuklaṃ tat sūkṣmaṃ yat sūkṣmaṃ tad vaidyutaṃ yad vaidyutaṃ tat paraṃ brahma yat paraṃ brahma sa ekaḥ yaḥ ekaḥ sa rudraḥ yo rudraḥ sa īśānaḥ ya īśānaḥ sa bhagavān maheśvaraḥ
His head is to the north, his feet to the south. Who is to the north is the Oṃkāra; who is the Oṃkāra is the Praṇava; who is the Praṇava is the All-pervading; who is the All-pervading is the Infinite; who is the Infinite, that is the Crossing; what is the Crossing is the white; what is the white is the subtle; what is the subtle is the lightning-like; what is lightning-like is the highest Brahman; what is the highest Brahman is the One; who is the One is Rudra; who is Rudra is Īśāna; who is Īśāna is the Lord Maheśvara.
6e097d6d29de · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
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The section is built as a chain: each link begins with the word by which the previous one ended.
The device is known in the Upaniṣads and serves not as ornament but as proof: to show that two distant names are linked is to lay an unbroken row between them.
There are thirteen links; they begin with the syllable Om and end with the name “Bhagavān Maheśvara”.
The chain, that is, leads from a sound to a person.
Consider the order. Oṃkāra — praṇava — all-pervading — infinite — the crossing — the white — the subtle — the lightning-like — the highest Brahman — the One — Rudra — Īśāna — Maheśvara.
The first half of the row is abstract, the second ever more personal: first attributes, then “the One”, then names.
This is the exact reverse of what today's reader expects. It is usually thought that names are a step toward the nameless. Here the nameless is a step toward the name.
Note the word tāram, “the crossing”. It is of the same root as the tāraka in the Rāma-tāpanī, and the next section will explain it in the same words that book used: “it carries across from the great fear of the womb, birth, disease, old age, death and the round of being”.
The next section will take up each link of this chain in turn and ask: and why is it so called?