Upaniṣads · Mahāvākya p15
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वाणि रूपाणि विचित्य धीरः । नामानि कृत्वाऽभिवदन्यदास्ते
Transliteración (IAST)
sarvāṇi rūpāṇi vicitya dhīraḥ | nāmāni kṛtvā'bhivadanyadāste
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
सर्वाणि रूपाणि विचित्य धीरःsarvāṇi rūpāṇi vicitya dhīraḥhaving devised all forms, the steadfast
नामानि कृत्वा अभिवदन् यत् आस्तेnāmāni kṛtvā abhivadan yat āstehaving made names, uttering them, abides
Traducción
«Having devised all forms, the steadfast one, having made names and uttering [them], abides.»
Versión
ef2ec7c9b981 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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This line is taken from the Taittirīya-āraṇyaka and speaks of a deed deserving examination: He rūpāṇi vicitya, “having devised forms,” and nāmāni kṛtvā, “having made names.” That is, creation is described as the giving-out of names. This conception is widespread in Indian books and is expressed by the word nāma-rūpa, “name-and-form”: every thing is a combination of the two, and creation consists in the undifferentiated being given names and outlines.
The Bṛhadāraṇyaka states this directly: “then this was undifferentiated; it was divided by name and form” (1.4.7). It is worth pausing on the word abhivadan, “uttering” — a present participle: not “named and finished,” but names and abides. That is, creation is not a once-performed act; it continues, and the world is sustained by its continuing to be named.
The Vaiṣṇava side expresses this through sarga and visarga, “primary creation” and “secondary,” and through the position that He enters what has been created: the Taittirīya says tat sṛṣṭvā tad evānuprāviśat, “having created this, He entered into that very thing” (2.6). This last verse deserves remembering, for it settles the old question of the relation between creator and creation. Not “made it and stepped away,” as a craftsman does; and not “became it,” as milk becomes curd; but — created and entered.
Let us add what follows from this for our discussion of names. If the world is sustained by naming, then a name is not a label stuck onto a finished thing; it is that by which the thing is what it is. And on this position stands the whole Vaiṣṇava teaching of the name.