ओं देवा ह वै प्रजापतिमब्रुवन्नणोरणीयांसमिममात्मानमोङ्कारं नो व्याचक्ष्वेति तथेत्योमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्वं तस्योपव्याख्यानं भूतं भवद्भविष्यदिति सर्वमोङ्कार एव यच्चान्यत्त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव सर्वं ह्येतद्ब्रह्मायमात्मा ब्रह्म तमेतमात्मानमोमिति ब्रह्मणैकीकृत्य ब्रह्म चात्मानमोमित्येकीकृत्य तदेकमजरममृतमभयमोमित्यनुभूय तस्मिन्निदं सर्वं त्रिशरीरमारोप्य तन्मयं हि तदेवेति संहरेदोमिति तं वा एतं त्रिशरीरमात्मानं त्रिशरीरं परं ब्रह्मानुसन्दध्यात्स्थूलत्वात्स्थूलभुक्त्वाच्च सूक्ष्मत्वात्सूक्ष्मभुक्त्वाच्चैक्यादानन्दभोगाच्च सोऽयमात्मा चतुष्पाज्जागरितस्थानः स्थूलप्रज्ञः सप्ताङ्ग एकोनविंशतिमुखः स्थूलभुक् चतुरात्मा विश्वो वैश्वानरः प्रथमः पादः
oṃ devā ha vai prajāpatimabruvannaṇoraṇīyāṃsamimamātmānamoṅkāraṃ no vyācakṣveti tathetyomityetadakṣaramidaṃ sarvaṃ tasyopavyākhyānaṃ bhūtaṃ bhavadbhaviṣyaditi sarvamoṅkāra eva yaccānyattrikālātītaṃ tadapyoṅkāra eva sarvaṃ hyetadbrahmāyamātmā brahma tametamātmānamomiti brahmaṇaikīkṛtya brahma cātmānamomityekīkṛtya tadekamajaramamṛtamabhayamomityanubhūya tasminnidaṃ sarvaṃ triśarīramāropya tanmayaṃ hi tadeveti saṃharedomiti taṃ vā etaṃ triśarīramātmānaṃ triśarīraṃ paraṃ brahmānusandadhyātsthūlatvātsthūlabhuktvācca sūkṣmatvātsūkṣmabhuktvāccaikyādānandabhogācca so'yamātmā catuṣpājjāgaritasthānaḥ sthūlaprajñaḥ saptāṅga ekonaviṃśatimukhaḥ sthūlabhuk caturātmā viśvo vaiśvānaraḥ prathamaḥ pādaḥ
Oṁ. The gods said to Prajāpati: “Expound to us this Ātman that is subtler than the subtle — the Oṁkāra.” — “So be it. ‘Oṁ’ — this syllable is all this; its exposition is thus: the past, the present and the future — all this is the Oṁkāra, and what else is beyond the three times — that too is the Oṁkāra. For all this is Brahman; this Ātman is Brahman. Having by the word ‘oṁ’ made this Ātman one with Brahman and Brahman one with the Ātman by the word ‘oṁ’, having by the word ‘oṁ’ experienced that one, unageing, immortal and fearless — having laid upon it all this, the three-bodied, and thought: ‘it is made of it and is it’ — let him withdraw everything by the word ‘oṁ’. And this three-bodied Ātman, the three-bodied highest Brahman, let him contemplate — by grossness and the enjoying of the gross, by subtlety and the enjoying of the subtle, by oneness and the enjoying of bliss. This Ātman is four-footed: abiding in waking, cognising the gross, seven-limbed, with nineteen gates, enjoying the gross, fourfold — Viśva, Vaiśvānara: this is the first foot.”
c9043c43e4b5 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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The uttara-tāpanī begins, and it is all about one thing: the syllable Oṁ, read through the mantra of Nṛsiṃha.
The gods' question is remarkable: “expound to us the Ātman that is subtler than the subtle — the Oṁkāra”.
That is, they ask not about the syllable and not about the Ātman severally: they ask about them as one.
The answer begins with the Māṇḍūkya — and this time it is cited not only by its first verse, as in the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva, but woven into the book's own speech.
Note three verbs that the Māṇḍūkya lacks and that decide everything here: ekīkṛtya — “having made one”; anubhūya — “having experienced”; saṁharet — “let him withdraw”.
To make the Ātman one with Brahman by the word “oṁ”; to experience the one by this word; and to withdraw into it everything three-bodied.
Tri-śarīra, “the three-bodied”, means the gross body, the subtle and the causal. These are to be gathered in.
Here is the whole practice of the uttara-tāpanī in three words. The Māṇḍūkya described four feet; here they will be drawn one into another in turn, until the fourth remains.
And the word by which this is named — grāsa, “swallowing” — will appear in the fourth paragraph.
Note also caturātmā, “fourfold”: each foot, it turns out, has its own four — the gross, the subtle, the seed and the witness. A four within the four.