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 3.1.3

This One is (the inferior) Brahman; this is Indra, this is Prajapati; this is all these gods; and this is these five elements, viz. earth, air, space, water, fire; and this is all these (big creatures), together with the small ones, that are the procreators of others and referable in pairs - to wit, those that are born of eggs, of wombs, of moisture of the earth, viz. horses, cattle, men, elephants, and all the creatures that there are which move or fly and those which do not move. All these have Consciousness as the giver of their reality; all these are impelled by Consciousness; the universe has Consciousness as its eye and Consciousness is its end. Consciousness is Brahman.







  • eṣa —

  • brahmaiṣa —

  • indra —

  • eṣa —

  • prajāpatirete —

  • sarve —

  • devā —

  • imāni —

  • ca —

  • pañcamahābhūtāni —

  • pṛthivī —

  • vāyurākāśa —

  • āpo —

  • jyotīṃṣītyetānīmāni —

  • ca —

  • kṣudramiśrāṇīva —

  • bījānītarāṇi —

  • cetarāṇi —

  • cāṇḍajāni —

  • ca —

  • jārujāni —

  • ca —

  • svedajāni —

  • codbhijjāni —

  • cāśvā —

  • gāvaḥ —

  • puruṣā —

  • hastino —

  • yatkiñcedaṃ —

  • prāṇi —

  • jaṅgamaṃ —

  • ca —

  • patatri —

  • ca —

  • yacca —

  • sthāvaraṃ —

  • sarvaṃ —

  • tatprajñānetraṃ —

  • prajñāne —

  • pratiṣṭhitaṃ —

  • prajñānetro —

  • lokaḥ —

  • prajñā —

  • pratiṣṭhā —

  • prajñānaṃ —

  • brahma —

Aitareya Upanishad