Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 2.5
॥
Devanāgarī
ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्वं तस्मात्प्रत्यक्षरमुभयत ओङ्कारो भवति । अक्षराणां न्यासमुपदिशन्ति ब्रह्मवादिनः
Transliteration (IAST)
omityetadakṣaramidaṃ sarvaṃ tasmātpratyakṣaramubhayata oṅkāro bhavati | akṣarāṇāṃ nyāsamupadiśanti brahmavādinaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं इति एतत् अक्षरम्oṃ iti etat akṣaram“Oṁ” — this syllable; the syllable named Oṁ
इदम् सर्वम्idam sarvamis all this; is this whole
तस्मात् प्रत्यक्षरम्tasmāt pratyakṣaramtherefore at every syllable; hence with each syllable
उभयतः ओङ्कारः भवतिubhayataḥ oṅkāraḥ bhavation both sides there is the Oṁkāra; on two sides stands Oṁ
अक्षराणाम् न्यासम् उपदिशन्तिakṣarāṇām nyāsam upadiśantithe laying-on of syllables they teach; they instruct in the nyāsa of syllables
ब्रह्मवादिनःbrahmavādinaḥthe discoursers on Brahman; the knowers of Brahman
Translation
“Oṁ” — this syllable is all this; therefore at every syllable the Oṁkāra is on both sides. The laying-on of the syllables is taught by the discoursers on Brahman.
Version
f73709fbd507 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A rule of utterance, and in it the book's whole thought about the syllable Oṁ is visible.
It is said: ubhayataḥ oṁkāro bhavati — “on both sides there is the Oṁkāra”. That is, each syllable of the mantra, at the laying-on, is framed with Oṁ: oṁ-u-oṁ, oṁ-gra-oṁ, and so all thirty-two.
Why? The ground is given in the very first words: “Oṁ — this syllable is all this”. Since it is everything, every part must stand within it.
We read the same in the fortieth and forty-second verses of the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī: the two syllables “tāra” in the middle of the diagram, and two praṇavas encircling everything outside. The beginning and the bound of one and the same.
Note the word nyāsa — “laying on, setting down”. From the same root comes sannyāsa, “renunciation”: literally “laying off oneself”.
One word names two opposite works: to lay the syllables upon oneself, and to lay everything off oneself. And this is no play: in both cases a man ceases to dispose of himself.
And the last: “taught by the discoursers on Brahman”. The rite is not deduced from a book — it is handed down.