Upaniṣads · Tārasāra 2.5
॥
Devanāgarī
कलातीता सप्तमाक्षरो भवति । तत्परश्चाष्टमाक्षरो भवति
Transliteración (IAST)
kalātītā saptamākṣaro bhavati | tatparaścāṣṭamākṣaro bhavati
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
कला-अतीता सप्तम-अक्षरः भवतिkalā-atītā saptama-akṣaraḥ bhavatibeyond the fraction is the seventh syllable
तत्-परः च अष्टम-अक्षरः भवतिtat-paraḥ ca aṣṭama-akṣaraḥ bhavatiand that which is beyond it is the eighth syllable
Traducción
«Beyond the fraction is the seventh syllable, and that which is beyond it, the eighth».
Versión
f94d196f71cc · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The last two parts are named: kalātīta, "beyond the fraction," and tatpara, "that which is beyond it." It is worth noting the structure: the seventh is defined by negation of what precedes, the eighth by being beyond the seventh. That is, the last steps of the ladder have no description of their own; they are named through their relation to what came before.
This device is inevitable and constant in the upaniṣads: where there is nothing to describe, direction is indicated. But here the book does something not usually done, and this deserves noting in advance. A few lines from now it will name all eight by name — and the seventh will turn out to be Sītā, and the eighth, Rāma.
That is, the negative ladder is crowned with two persons. This turn, to my mind, is the main thing in this book, and it is worth reading for its sake. Usually it happens the other way: one begins with persons and ends with abstraction. Here one began with an abstract analysis of sound and ended with Rāma and Sītā.
The Vaiṣṇava side reads every such ladder exactly this way, and its rule is stated in a verse of the Bhāgavatam cited more than once: the same tattvam advayam is called brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān (1.2.11). The order in that verse is the same as here: first the impersonal, then the inner, then the person. And that the person stands last, not first, is, in its reading, not a diminishment but a culmination.