Upaniṣads · Mahāvākya p9
॥
Devanāgarī
असावादित्यो ब्रह्मेत्यजपयोपहितं हंसः सोऽहम्
Transliteración (IAST)
asāvādityo brahmetyajapayopahitaṃ haṃsaḥ so'ham
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
असौ आदित्यः ब्रह्म इतिasau ādityaḥ brahma iti"that sun is brahman"
अ-जपया उपहितंa-japayā upahitaṃreinforced by the unrepeated [mantra]
हंसः सः अहम्haṃsaḥ saḥ aham"haṃsa", "he am I"
Traducción
«"That sun is brahman" — reinforced by the unrepeated [mantra] "haṃsa", "he am I".»
Versión
2040e7b393b2 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Two sayings are cited, and both are ancient. Asāv āditye brahma, “that sun is brahman,” is taken from the Chāndogya (3.19.1), which tells how the world arose from an egg and how the sun appeared from it. Haṃsaḥ so'ham is the famous ajapā-gāyatrī, “the unrepeated gāyatrī.” The name deserves examination: ajapā means “not-to-be-repeated,” that is, one that need not be uttered — it utters itself.
This is explained as follows: the breath, entering, sounds like saḥ, and leaving, like ham; and so a person, without knowing it, repeats so'ham or haṃsaḥ twenty-one thousand six hundred times a day. This observation is clever, and it is worth noting that it makes the exercise unnecessary: what happens anyway requires no effort. The Vaiṣṇava side does not make use of mantras of this kind, and it is worth saying why, for the reason lies in the very design.
A mantra that utters itself is not an address: no one speaks it, and it is addressed to no one. It is the sound of breath given a meaning. But its own mantra is a call, that is, it requires a speaker and a hearer; and hence it cannot utter itself.
Let us add what follows from this for assessing both methods. A method that works by itself demands nothing of the person — and hence changes nothing in him. A method requiring utterance demands attention, time, and resolve; and whatever changes in a person from it changes because he did it.