Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 3.5
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वेषां वा एतद्भूतानामाकाशः परायणं सर्वाणि ह वा इमानि भूतान्याकाशादेव जायन्त आकाशादेव जातानि जीवन्त्याकाशं प्रयत्यभिसंविशन्ति तस्मादाकाशं बीजं विद्यात्
Transliteration (IAST)
sarveṣāṃ vā etadbhūtānāmākāśaḥ parāyaṇaṃ sarvāṇi ha vā imāni bhūtānyākāśādeva jāyanta ākāśādeva jātāni jīvantyākāśaṃ prayatyabhisaṃviśanti tasmādākāśaṃ bījaṃ vidyāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वेषाम् वै एतत् भूतानाम्sarveṣām vai etat bhūtānāmof all these beings; for all these creatures
आकाशः परायणम्ākāśaḥ parāyaṇamspace is the final resort; the ether is the last goal
सर्वाणि ह वै इमानि भूतानिsarvāṇi ha vai imāni bhūtāniall these beings; all these creatures
आकाशात् एव जायन्तेākāśāt eva jāyanteare born from space alone; arise out of the ether
आकाशात् जातानि जीवन्तिākāśāt jātāni jīvantiborn from space, they live; born of it, they live
आकाशम् प्रयन्ति अभिसंविशन्तिākāśam prayanti abhisaṃviśantito space they go and into it they enter; into the ether they depart and merge
तस्मात् आकाशम् बीजम् विद्यात्tasmāt ākāśam bījam vidyāttherefore let him know space as the seed; hence let him understand the ākāśa as the bīja
Translation
Of all these beings space is the final resort: all these beings are born from space, born from space they live, to space they go and into it they enter. Therefore let him know space as the seed.
Version
f9842b0b3d34 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The answer to the second question: the mantra's seed is ākāśa, space.
And it is grounded by the same formula as in the second paragraph of the first Upaniṣad: they are born, they live, they enter.
There it was said of the anuṣṭubh, here — of space. The formula is one, because the subject is one: that by which everything is held.
Why then is the seed named space, and not some syllable?
Because sound has no other place than space. The Taittirīya says: “from the Ātman arose space, from space — wind”; and sound is the property of space, as all the Indian science of the elements teaches.
So the seed of the mantra is that in which sound is possible at all.
Note the word parāyaṇa — “the final resort, that to which one goes”. We read it in the third verse of the fourth chapter of the Brahma Upaniṣad, where the sacred thread was so named.
And the property of the ākāśa is to contain without hindering. It mixes with nothing and resists nothing; hence it is constantly taken as the likeness of the Ātman.