Upanishads · Tārasāra 2.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ओंइत्येतदक्षरं परं ब्रह्म । तदेवोपासितव्यम्
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃityetadakṣaraṃ paraṃ brahma | tadevopāsitavyam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओम् इति एतत् अक्षरंom iti etat akṣaraṃ'oṃ' — this syllable
परं ब्रह्मparaṃ brahmais the highest brahman
तत् एव उपासितव्यम्tat eva upāsitavyamit alone should be revered
Translation
«'Oṃ' — this syllable is the highest brahman; it alone should be revered».
Version
6972455a459a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second pāda begins, named for the Yajurveda; its subject will be oṃ as the condensed eight-syllabled mantra. The idea is this: the eight-syllabled name has eight syllables, but oṃ itself, if broken into parts, also yields eight; and so oṃ is that same mantra in folded form. It is worth noting the very word akṣara, by which oṃ is named. It means "syllable" and, at the same time, "the imperishable," from a-kṣar, "not to flow, not to diminish."
This double meaning is constantly played on in Indian books: syllable and the imperishable are one word. And so every discussion of syllables in them is at the same time a discussion of what does not pass away. The Vaiṣṇava side teaches the same about the syllable oṃ as everyone else, but adds its own interpretation, worth mentioning.
It analyzes it as a-u-m, where a is Kṛṣṇa, u is Rādhā (or śakti), m is the living being; and it turns out that the syllable itself names the same three named in the three parts of the eight-syllabled mantra (1.7). This interpretation, it must be said, is that of a particular school, not a common view; and to insist on it would be wrong. But it is curious that both analyses — this one and its own — arrive at the same thing: in the shortest word, multitude is found. A syllable that seems a simple sound turns out to contain a whole teaching; and in this, to my mind, lies the whole point of working with sacred syllables.