आपः एव इदम् अग्रे आसुः ताः आपः सत्यम् असृजन्त सत्यम् ब्रह्म ब्रह्म प्रजापतिम् प्रजापतिः देवान् ते देवाः सत्यम् एव उपासते तद् एतत् त्र्यक्षरं स ति यम् इति स इति एकम् अक्षरम् ति इति एकम् अक्षरम् यम् इति एकम् अक्षरम् प्रथमोत्तमे अक्षरे सत्यम् मध्यतः अनृतम् तद् एतद् अनृतम् उभयतः सत्येन परिगृहीतम् सत्यभूयम् एव भवति न एवंविद्वांसम् अनृतं हिनस्ति
āpaḥ eva idam agre āsuḥ tāḥ āpaḥ satyam asṛjanta satyam brahma brahma prajāpatim prajāpatiḥ devān te devāḥ satyam eva upāsate tad etat tryakṣaraṃ sa ti yam iti sa iti ekam akṣaram ti iti ekam akṣaram yam iti ekam akṣaram prathamottame akṣare satyam madhyataḥ anṛtam tad etad anṛtam ubhayataḥ satyena parigṛhītam satyabhūyam eva bhavati na evaṃvidvāṃsam anṛtaṃ hinasti
In the beginning this was the waters. The waters created truth; truth created Brahman; Brahman created Prajāpati; Prajāpati created the gods. The gods venerate truth alone. The word satyam is three syllables: "sa" is one syllable, "ti" is one syllable, "yam" is one syllable: the first and the last are truth, in the middle is falsehood. The falsehood is embraced on both sides by truth — and becomes partaker of truth. Falsehood does not harm one who knows this.
a0fcf219f65a · publicado 27 jul 2026, 1:20:31 UTC
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One of the wittiest vidyās in the Veda — an anatomy of the word satyam: sa and yam (the syllables of sat, "being") are truth at the edges; ti (echoing an-ṛta through unreality) is "falsehood" in the middle. The very word "truth" carries a drop of falsehood inside it — surrounded by truth on both sides and therefore rendered harmless: anṛtam ubhayataḥ satyena parigṛhītam.
The formula is deeper than the wordplay: the world, like this word, is truth at the edges (its origin and its end are in Being) with a layer of unreality in the middle; and falsehood set in a frame of truth "becomes partaker of truth" — it loses its venom. Hence the promise: "falsehood does not harm" the knower — not because he may lie with impunity, but because he has learned to hold every middle-unreality in the grip of two truths: of origin and of destination.