Aitareya Upanishad

The Aitareya Upanishad is a short prose text from the Aitareya Aranyaka in the Rig Veda. It explains the symbolic meaning of the rituals described in the previous chapters of the Aranyaka, and contains particularly famous aphorisms (maha vakya) like prajnanam brahma - "Brahman is perfect knowledge". Aitareya Upanishad discusses the philosophy of the individual and the self, the theory of reincarnation, and the relationship between individual consciousness and the universal consciousness.

Aitareya 1.1.2

He sent out the world of clouds, the world of sunlight, the world of mortals, and the world of water. The heavens are the foundation of the clouds, and the atmosphere holds up the heavens. The spacious earth is cast upward by the world of water.



  • sa — he, it, that

  • imām̐ — these

  • llokānasṛjata — created the worlds

    • lokān — worlds

    • asṛjata — released, created

  • ambho — water

  • marīcīrmaramāpo'do'mbhaḥ —

    • marīcīḥ — rays of light

    • maram — dying, death

    • āpaḥ — air, atmosphere

    • adaḥ — there

    • ambhaḥ — water

  • pareṇa — beyond, further

  • divaṃ — heaven, sky

  • dyauḥ — heaven, sky

  • pratiṣṭhā'ntarikṣaṃ — resting on the atmosphere

    • pratiṣṭhā — foundation, support

    • antarikṣam — atmosphere, intermediate region

  • marīcayaḥ — particles of light

  • pṛthivī — the earth

  • maro — death

  • yā — who, which, what

  • adhastātta — casting up from below

    • adhastāt — from below

    • taḥ — casting up

  • āpaḥ — air, atmosphere

Aitareya Upanishad