अथ कस्मादुच्यतेऽहमिति । अहमस्मि प्रथमजा ऋतस्य पूर्वं देवेभ्यो अमृतस्य नाभिः । यो मा ददाति स इ देवमावाः अहमन्नमन्नमदन्तमद्मि । अहं विश्वं भुवनमभ्यभवां सुवर्णज्योतिर्य एवं वेदेति महोपनिषत्
atha kasmāducyate'hamiti | ahamasmi prathamajā ṛtasya pūrvaṃ devebhyo amṛtasya nābhiḥ | yo mā dadāti sa i devamāvāḥ ahamannamannamadantamadmi | ahaṃ viśvaṃ bhuvanamabhyabhavāṃ suvarṇajyotirya evaṃ vedeti mahopaniṣat
“And why is ‘aham’ said?” — “‘I am the first-born of order, before the gods, the navel of immortality; who gives me, he it is that keeps me. I am food, and I eat him who eats food; I overcame the whole world, I am the golden light.’ Who so knows — such is the great upaniṣad.”
8a4dee05df33 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 4:39:50 UTC
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The last word of the mantra is aham, “I” — and it is explained by the boldest text of Vedic literature: the speech of Vāc, the goddess of Speech, from the Ṛg-veda, and a verse from the Taittirīya.
“I am the first-born of order, before the gods, the navel of immortality.”
This is not the worshipper speaking of himself. This is That which is worshipped speaking — and speaking in the first person.
That is why the mantra ends with the word “I”. Thirty-one syllables were addressed to Another; the last proves to be His own speech.
Then — a turn that makes one uneasy: ahaṁ annam annam adantam admi — “I am food, and I eat him who eats food”.
A line from the Taittirīya, from the hymn of exultation with which that whole Upaniṣad ends. Its meaning is this: there is no position in which He is not both sides. He is both the victuals and the eater; both the eaten and that which will eat the eater.
Recall the thirty-third section of the Atharvaśiras, where He was called mahā-grāsa, “the Great Devourer”, and where it was said with what He devours: “being with being, the subtle with the subtle”.
And the last word: suvarṇa-jyotiḥ — “the golden light”.
The second Upaniṣad is finished. The mantra has been named, counted, parsed word by word and explained entire — except one word, “bhadra”, of which the transmitted text is silent.