उपनिषद् · Praśna 5.1
॥
देवनागरी
अथ हैनं शैब्यः सत्यकामः पप्रच्छ ।
स यो ह वै तद् भगवन् मनुष्येषु प्रायणान्तम् ओंकारम् अभिध्यायीत ।
कतमं वाव स तेन लोकं जयतीति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
atha hainaṃ śaibyaḥ satyakāmaḥ papraccha |
sa yo ha vai tad bhagavan manuṣyeṣu prāyaṇāntam oṃkāram abhidhyāyīta |
katamaṃ vāva sa tena lokaṃ jayatīti
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अथ हatha hathen indeed; after this
एनम्enamit; to Him
शैब्यः सत्यकामःśaibyaḥ satyakāmaḥŚaibya Satyakāma; Satyakāma of the line of Śibi
पप्रच्छpapracchaasked; put a question
सः यः ह वैsaḥ yaḥ ha vaihe who truly; that very man
तत् भगवन्tat bhagavanthis, O venerable one; O master
मनुष्येषुmanuṣyeṣuamong men; in the world of men
प्रायणान्तम्prāyaṇāntamup to the very departure (prāyaṇa-anta — 'to the end, the going forth'); until the hour of death; to the last day
ओंकारम्oṃkāramthe syllable Oṁ (oṅkāra); the Oṁkāra; the sacred syllable
अभिध्यायीतabhidhyāyītacontemplates (abhi-√dhyai — 'to hold in thought'); meditates upon; calls to mind
कतमम् वावkatamam vāvawhich then; which precisely
सःsaḥhe; such a man
तेनtenaby this; through it
लोकम्lokamthe world; dwelling
जयति इतिjayati itiwins (from √ji); he wins by conquest; obtains
अनुवाद
Then Śaibya Satyakāma asked him: "Venerable one, which world does that man attain who up to his very departure contemplates the syllable Oṁ?"
संस्करण
f51be09ce78b · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 8:35:21 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The fifth question is about practice: sa yo ha vai… manuṣyeṣu prāyaṇāntam oṅkāram abhidhyāyīta — "he among men who contemplates the Oṁkāra to the end of his life (prāyaṇa-anta — 'up to the very departure')" — katamaṁ vāva sa tena lokaṁ jayati — "which world does he win thereby?"
The question is asked by Satyakāma — "Lover of truth": the asker's name is a seal upon the question. And his question is flawlessly practical: after all the height of the fourth answer (the Imperishable in whom all things are) it is natural to ask: and how does one travel there? With what shall the remaining years be filled? The answer is already foreshadowed by the word abhidhyāyīta — "let him contemplate, hold in thought": not a single utterance but a lifelong remembrance, a dhyāna as long as a life.
prāyaṇāntam — "up to the departure" — is the key of the question: what is asked for is a practice that is neither postponed nor finished — a companion up to the threshold of death and across it. The Kaṭha has already called Oṁ "the best support"; the Praśna will now take that support apart by its composition — by the three measures of the syllable — and show whither each measure leads. Vedic exactness even here: even grace has its gradations of fullness.