Upaniṣads · Taittirīya 1.2
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं शिक्षाम् व्याख्यास्यामः वर्णः स्वरः मात्रा बलम् साम सन्तानः इति उक्तः शिक्षाध्यायः
Transliteración (IAST)
oṃ śikṣām vyākhyāsyāmaḥ varṇaḥ svaraḥ mātrā balam sāma santānaḥ iti uktaḥ śikṣādhyāyaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
ओंoṃoṁ; the sacred syllable
शिक्षाम्śikṣāmthe science of pronunciation (śikṣā); phonetics; the teaching of utterance
व्याख्यास्यामःvyākhyāsyāmaḥwe shall expound; we shall set forth
वर्णःvarṇaḥthe sound (varṇa — a phoneme); the letter-sound; the quality of the sound
स्वरःsvaraḥtone, accent (svara); the pitch of the sound; the Vedic note
मात्राmātrāquantity (mātrā — the measure of a syllable); measure; duration
बलम्balamstrength (bala — the force of articulation); effort; the firmness [of the sound]
सामsāmaevenness (sāman — levelness); smoothness; even sounding
सन्तानःsantānaḥcontinuity (santāna — 'an unbroken thread'); unbrokenness; the cohesion of the flow
इतिitithus; such is it
उक्तःuktaḥhas been declared; has been set forth
शिक्षाध्यायःśikṣādhyāyaḥthe chapter on phonetics; the chapter on pronunciation
Traducción
Oṁ. Let us expound the science of pronunciation: sound, accent, quantity, strength, evenness, continuity. Thus has the chapter on pronunciation been declared.
Versión
beb909818162 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 19:50:25 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The Upaniṣad's first lesson is phonetics. śikṣāṁ vyākhyāsyāmaḥ — "let us expound the śikṣā": the science of utterance, and its six subjects are listed like six strings: varṇa — the sound (the precision of each phoneme), svara — the tone or accent (the pitch of the Vedic note), mātrā — the measure (the length of the syllable), balam — strength (the force of articulation), sāma — evenness (the levelness of the sounding), santāna — continuity (the unbrokenness of the flow).
Why should an Upaniṣad — the summit of knowledge — begin with a lesson in diction? Because in the Vedic world sound is the bearer of truth: the śruti lives in its utterance as music lives in performance; a sound falsely rendered is already a sense falsely rendered. A word that is to carry Brahman (and the whole Taittirīya is a road to satyaṁ jñānam anantam) must first be tuned as an instrument: tuning before the concert.
There is also a spiritual gesture here deeper than the technical one: reverence for form. Carelessness with the letter is the first step of carelessness with the substance; he who has not laboured over the syllable will not hold the meaning either. The Taittirīya teaches from its threshold: holiness begins with precision — the same precision the Muṇḍaka demanded of the oblation poured "into the middle, between the two halves of the butter".