Upanishads · Gaṇapati 6.3
॥
Devanāgarī
त्वं ब्रह्मा त्वं विष्णुस्त्वं रुद्रस्त्वमिन्द्रस्त्वमग्निस्त्वं वायुस्त्वं सूर्यस्त्वं चन्द्रमास्त्वं ब्रह्म भूर्भुवः स्वरोम्
Transliteration (IAST)
tvaṃ brahmā tvaṃ viṣṇustvaṃ rudrastvamindrastvamagnistvaṃ vāyustvaṃ sūryastvaṃ candramāstvaṃ brahma bhūrbhuvaḥ svarom
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
त्वं ब्रह्मा त्वं विष्णुःtvaṃ brahmā tvaṃ viṣṇuḥyou are Brahmā, you are Viṣṇu
त्वं रुद्रःtvaṃ rudraḥyou are Rudra
त्वम् इन्द्रः त्वम् अग्निःtvam indraḥ tvam agniḥyou are Indra, you are Agni
त्वं वायुःtvaṃ vāyuḥyou are Vāyu
त्वं सूर्यः त्वं चन्द्रमाःtvaṃ sūryaḥ tvaṃ candramāḥyou are Sūrya, you are Candra
त्वं ब्रह्मtvaṃ brahmayou are brahman
भूः भुवः स्वः ओंbhūḥ bhuvaḥ svaḥ oṃbhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, oṃ
Translation
You are Brahmā, you are Viṣṇu, you are Rudra, you are Indra, you are Agni, you are Vāyu, you are Sūrya, you are Candra, you are brahman: bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, oṃ.
Version
f221d9b05725 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A list of identifications, and in hymns it is so common a device that it has its own name. The German scholar Max Müller called it henotheism: in a prayer to one deity, everything belonging to the others is attributed to him, and for the moment he alone is. It must be said plainly what such a device is and is not. It is the language of worship, not an exposition of doctrine; and a person who reads such lists as theological statements runs into a dead end, for in a neighboring book the very same list is composed in the reverse order.
We have already seen this: in the Bhasma-jābāla Viṣṇu bowed to Śiva, in the Rudra-hṛdaya Viṣṇu was called the eternal self of all beings, and here both Viṣṇu and Rudra are equally Gaṇapati. All three are recorded, and all three are sincere. Does this mean the question of precedence is unresolvable? The Vaiṣṇava side answers that it does not, and its rule deserves to be cited, for it applies to other cases too.
One must decide not by the lists but by the places where the subject is set forth: where it is said who proceeds from whom, who rules over what, who under what circumstances is subordinate to whom. A list is praise; an exposition is a statement; and the former yields to the latter. Hence its own argument is built not on lists but on a verse where the difference is drawn directly: ete cāṃśa-kalāḥ puṃsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam — "all these are parts and portions of the Puruṣa, but Kṛṣṇa is the Lord Himself" (Bhāgavatam 1.3.28). This verse does not praise but distinguishes, and so it carries a different weight than a list.
The closing words — bhūr bhuvaḥ svar om — are the three vyāhṛtis, the exclamations of the gāyatrī: earth, the atmosphere, heaven. With them the prayer, as it were, encompasses the three worlds and ends on the syllable that holds them.