Upaniṣads · Tārasāra 2.2
॥
Devanāgarī
एतदेव सूक्ष्माष्टाक्षरं भवति । तदेतदष्टात्मकोऽष्टधा भवति
Transliteración (IAST)
etadeva sūkṣmāṣṭākṣaraṃ bhavati | tadetadaṣṭātmako'ṣṭadhā bhavati
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
एतत् एव सूक्ष्म-अष्ट-अक्षरं भवतिetat eva sūkṣma-aṣṭa-akṣaraṃ bhavatiit indeed is the subtle eight-syllabled [mantra]
तत् एतत् अष्ट-आत्मकःtat etat aṣṭa-ātmakaḥit, of eightfold essence
अष्टधा भवतिaṣṭadhā bhavatibecomes eightfold
Traducción
«It indeed is the subtle eight-syllabled [mantra]; it, of eightfold essence, becomes eightfold».
Versión
cbe75bae30bb · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
It says sūkṣma-aṣṭākṣara, "subtle eight-syllabled": that is, oṃ is called the very same eight-syllabled mantra, only in folded form. Its opposite is sthūla, "gross": the eight-syllabled name pronounced in full. The distinction between sthūla and sūkṣma, "gross and subtle," is universal in Indian books; it is worth examining what it means here.
The gross is what is unfolded and so accessible to everyone: eight syllables that can be learned and pronounced. The subtle is what is folded and requires knowledge: one syllable in which those same eight must be discerned. This relation, put simply, is the relation of exposition to abbreviation; and every teaching has both forms.
The Vaiṣṇava side prefers the unfolded, and it is worth saying why. The folded requires someone to unfold it; the unfolded acts on its own. Hence its principal mantra consists not of seed-syllables but of names, and it is long: sixteen words. No analysis is needed for it: a person who knows nothing utters the names and thereby calls.
Let us add what follows from this for the whole difference between the schools. A teaching working with folded signs is inevitably restricted by caste: it requires the initiated. A teaching working with names is universal; and so, where the name becomes the chief means, caste barriers sooner or later collapse.