Om Ityetad Aksharam — the opening of the Mandukya
The definition of Om that opens the Mandukya Upanishad: all that was, is, and will be is Om — and what lies outside time is Om too.
Mandukya Upanishad 1edition
Sanskrit · संस्कृत
This text is shown without svara (Vedic accent) marks — no marked edition has been verified for it yet. Accent matters in Vedic recitation, so we would rather show none than show the wrong ones.
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Meaning
Om — this syllable is all this. What follows is its explanation. All that is past, present and future is simply Om. And whatever else there is, beyond the three times, that too is Om.
This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.
A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.
How to recite
- Repetitions
- 3 · 11
- Time
- brahma muhurta, sandhya
Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong
- ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
- Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
- श ष स · ś ṣ s
- Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
- ः · ḥ (visarga)
- A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
- ं · ṃ (anusvara)
- Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
- Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū
- Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
- Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh
- A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.
Word by word
- ओम्om
- the syllable OmMW1899-CDSL p.235
- अक्षरम्akṣaram
- syllable; also the imperishable(nom. sg. n.)MW1899-CDSL p.3
- इदं सर्वम्idaṃ sarvam
- all this
- उपव्याख्यानम्upavyākhyānam
- the explanation that followsMW1899-CDSL p.207
- भूतं भवद्भविष्यत्bhūtaṃ bhavad bhaviṣyat
- past, present and future
- त्रिकालातीतम्trikālātītam
- beyond the three times
Glosses are confirmed against a Sanskrit–English dictionary; the reference after each entry names the edition consulted.
Context
Shadanga — the six limbs
The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.
- devata
- Om (Pranava)
Recited at / traditionally recited for
Classified as Vedic — From the Vedic corpus — Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka or Upanishad. Carries a rishi, a metre, and accent marking. Basis for this classification.
Related mantras
Purnamadah Purnamidam
The fullness verse — take fullness from fullness and fullness remains. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1.
Agnim Ile — the first verse of the Rigveda
The opening verse of the Rigveda, and so the first line of the Vedic corpus — an invocation of Agni.
Sangachhadhvam Samvadadhvam
The closing hymn of the Rigveda, on moving together and speaking together — Rigveda 10.191.2.