Upaniṣads · Chāndogya 1,1.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ओम् इति एतत् अक्षरम् उद्गीथम् उपासीत ओम् इति हि उद्गायति तस्य उपव्याख्यानम्
Transliteración (IAST)
om iti etat akṣaram udgītham upāsīta om iti hi udgāyati tasya upavyākhyānam
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
ओम्omoṁ; the sacred syllable
इतिitithus; how
एतत्etatthis; all this
अक्षरम्akṣaramthe syllable; the letter
उद्गीथम्udgīthamthe udgītha (udgītha — 'the exalted chant', ud-√gai); the high chant; the udgītha-utterance
उपासीतupāsītait is to be venerated (upa-√ās — 'to sit beside, to contemplate'); let him contemplate; is to be revered
ओम्omoṁ; the sacred syllable
इतिitithus; how
हिhiindeed; truly
उद्गायतिudgāyatithey sing the udgītha (ud-√gai); they call out; they strike up the chant
तस्यtasyait; concerning this
उपव्याख्यानम्upavyākhyānamthe exposition (upa-vi-ā-√khyā); the explanation; the interpretation
Traducción
Oṁ! This syllable is to be venerated as the udgītha — for it is with Oṁ that the udgītha is begun. Here is the exposition of it.
Versión
103f9cacd28e · publicado 26 jul 2026, 22:28:09 UTC
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The Chāndogya is the Upaniṣad of the singers of the Sāma-veda, and it opens with their holy thing: om ity etad akṣaram udgītham upāsīta — "this syllable Oṁ is to be venerated as the udgītha". The udgītha is "the exalted chant" (ud-√gai — "to sing upward"), the core of the sāman rite, intoned by the udgātṛ priest; and the first word of that chant is always Oṁ. The Upaniṣad bids us not merely to sing it but upāsīta — to venerate, to contemplate: to make the syllable an object of the inward gaze.
So the method of the whole vast book is set: upāsanā, a venerating contemplation in which the visible (a sound, a rite, an element) is taken as a window into the invisible. The Chāndogya will teach no new rites but a new sight of the old ones: the very syllable a priest has sung for ages discloses itself as "the essence of essences" (the next verses), as the very support of the world. tasyopavyākhyānam — "here is its exposition": an invitation into the sound by which the whole Sāma-veda breathes.