Universal Wisdom & Light Upanishadic Verse
The first verse of the Mandukya Upanishad: Om is all this, all that was, is and will be. Sanskrit text, transliteration and meaning in simple English.
Sanskrit
ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्वं तस्योपव्याख्यानं भूतं भवद्भविष्यदिति सर्वमोङ्कार एव ।
यच्चान्यत्त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव ॥
Some editions print “hariḥ om” before this verse. Those words are a heading, not part of the verse. “Akṣara” means both “syllable” and “imperishable”.
Transliteration (IAST)
om ity etad akṣaram idaṃ sarvaṃ tasyopavyākhyānaṃ bhūtaṃ bhavad bhaviṣyad iti sarvam oṅkāra eva |
yac cānyat trikālātītaṃ tad apy oṅkāra eva ||
Meaning
“Om”: this syllable is all this. What follows is its explanation. All that was, all that is and all that will be is only Om. And whatever else lies beyond the three times is also only Om.
Source / Textual Reference
Mandukya Upanishad, verse 1
Text compared with Wisdomlib (Swami Nikhilananda’s edition with Gaudapada’s Karika and Shankara’s commentary) and Sanskrit Documents (the full Upanishad). Wisdomlib gives the first sentence in Devanagari; the second sentence was read from the Sanskrit Documents file.
Traditional Significance
The Mandukya Upanishad is very short and is devoted to the sacred syllable Om. This first verse says that Om stands for everything, including what lies beyond time. The verses that follow explain Om through its parts and the four states of the self.
Teachers read it in different ways, and the explanation is best learned from a teacher.
Traditional Practice
The Upanishad is studied and chanted as a whole. Om itself is chanted at the start and end of many prayers; no fixed time or number of repetitions is prescribed for this verse.
Related Content
- Purnamadah Purnamidam, a verse on wholeness that begins with Om
- Gayatri Mantra, which begins with Om
- Aham Brahmasmi, another saying from the Upanishads