Upanishads · Gaṇapati 4.1
॥
Devanāgarī
त्वं वाङ्मयस्त्वं चिन्मयः । त्वमानन्दमयस्त्वं ब्रह्ममयः
Transliteration (IAST)
tvaṃ vāṅmayastvaṃ cinmayaḥ | tvamānandamayastvaṃ brahmamayaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
त्वं वाङ्मयःtvaṃ vāṅmayaḥyou, consisting of speech
त्वं चिन्मयःtvaṃ cinmayaḥyou, consisting of consciousness
त्वम् आनन्दमयःtvam ānandamayaḥyou, consisting of bliss
त्वं ब्रह्ममयःtvaṃ brahmamayaḥyou, consisting of brahman
Translation
You, consisting of speech; you, consisting of consciousness; you, consisting of bliss; you, consisting of brahman.
Version
7bae1ba9ea62 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Four definitions, and all ending in the same suffix -maya, "consisting of." This suffix deserves unpacking, since the meaning of the whole series depends on it. Maya means "made of, full of something": mṛn-maya — "made of clay," anna-maya — "made of food." It points to composition, not to identity.
To say "you consist of bliss" and "you are bliss" are not quite the same. The first presupposes one who consists; the second presupposes no one. This distinction is not our invention: it underlies the famous passage of the Taittirīya on the five sheaths — anna-maya, prāṇa-maya, mano-maya, vijñāna-maya, ānanda-maya (2.2–2.5) — and there the suffix maya everywhere means precisely a sheath, that of which the covering is made, not the wearer.
The Vaiṣṇava side builds one of its arguments on this and presents it in its exposition of the Vedānta-sūtra. Since ānanda-maya is "consisting of bliss" and not "bliss," even the highest passage of the Taittirīya speaks of a person whose composition is bliss; and the Vedānta-sūtra devotes a separate discussion to precisely this (1.1.12–19). The first of the four words, vāṅ-maya, "consisting of speech," deserves special note. It sets speech on a par with consciousness and bliss; and in this is reflected the whole Indian attitude toward the word, already discussed: here the word is not a label for a thing but the substance of the world.