Upanishads · Yājñavalkya p13
॥
Devanāgarī
स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्य इदं प्रणवमेवास्य तद्यज्ञोपवीतं य आत्मा
Transliteration (IAST)
sa hovāca yājñavalkya idaṃ praṇavamevāsya tadyajñopavītaṃ ya ātmā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सः ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यःsaḥ ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥand Yājñavalkya said
इदं प्रणवम् एवidaṃ praṇavam evathis very praṇava
तत् यज्ञ-उपवीतंtat yajña-upavītaṃis his sacred thread
यः आत्माyaḥ ātmāwhich is the self
Translation
And Yājñavalkya said: this very praṇava is his sacred thread — that which is the self.
Version
2b9040e14884 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Here is the answer, and it is, to my mind, the finest passage in the whole book: idaṃ praṇavam evāsya tad yajñopavītaṃ ya ātmā. The cut thread is replaced by two things: the syllable oṃ and the self. It is worth examining what has happened here, for the change is not small.
The thread is a material object, worn from birth and removed by scissors. The praṇava is a sound; the self is what everyone has. That is, the mark of belonging is transferred from what is given to few, to what everyone has.
We met the same in the Rudrākṣa-jābāla (1.17), where beads were worn instead of the thread; and it was said there that this substitution goes around the caste system rather than confronting it. Here it goes further: the substitute is not another object, but the absence of an object. The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this position and rests on it in the dispute over rights. Her argument is this: if the thread can be replaced by a syllable and the self, it is not a necessary condition; and what is not necessary cannot serve as a barrier.
Let us add what is worth saying about the word yajñopavīta, "the sacrificial thread-cord," itself. It is worn across the shoulder, diagonally, and signifies that the person carries the duty to sacrifice. When it is replaced by the self, it follows: the duty to sacrifice is borne by the person himself, not by a sign upon him; and this is, in essence, the same thing the Prāṇāgnihotra said in transferring the sacrifice into the body.