Skip to content
Chapter 17 · Verse 23
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 17, Verse 23

ॐ तत्सदिति निर्देशो ब्रह्मणस्त्रिविधः स्मृतः। ब्राह्मणास्तेन वेदाश्च यज्ञाश्च विहिताः पुरा॥

oṁ tatsaditi nirdeśo brahmaṇastrividhaḥ smṛtaḥ | brāhmaṇāstena vedāśca yajñāśca vihitāḥ purā ||

Word by Word 15 words
ॐ
oṁ the sacred syllable Om

Om, the primal sacred sound

तत्
tad that

Tat — 'That', pointing to the boundless Supreme

सत्
as to be sat being, real, good

Sat — 'the Real, the Good, what truly is'

इति
iti thus

thus, in these words

निर्देशः
nis forth, out diś to point, to indicate a noun

the designation, the threefold name or pointing-out

ब्रह्मणः
bṛh to grow great, to expand man noun as genitive, of

of Brahman, of the vast Supreme Reality

त्रिविधः
tri three vidha kind, fold

threefold, of three parts

स्मृतः
smṛ to remember, to declare ta past participle

is remembered as, is held to be

ब्राह्मणाः
bṛh to grow great man noun a born of, belonging to

the brahmins, the knowers of the sacred

तेन
tad that ena instrumental, by

by that, by this threefold name

वेदाः
vid to know a that which is known

the Vedas, the sacred knowledge

च
ca and

and

यज्ञाः
yaj to worship, to offer a noun

the sacrifices, the sacred offerings

विहिताः
vi forth, in order dhā to set, to ordain, to bring forth ta past participle

were brought forth, were ordained, were established

पुरा
purā long ago, of old

in ancient times, of old

says: "There are three sacred words that point toward , the vast Truth behind everything: 'Om — Tat — Sat.' In the very beginning, long ago, it was from these three words that the wise ones, the Vedas, and all the sacred offerings first came forth. They are like three doorways that all open onto the same boundless light."

कथा

The Three Names at the Dawn of Things

From the upanishads

Before the rivers had names, before the first lamp was lit, before anyone had spoken a single word — so the old sages told — there was only : the vast, silent, shining Truth that holds up everything, the way the sky holds up the stars.

The sages would teach this to their students in the cool hour before sunrise, sitting beneath a great peepal tree. One morning a boy named Nachiketa asked the question that every young seeker eventually asks.

"Guruji, if the Truth is too big for any name, how can we ever point to it? How do we even begin to speak of something so vast?"

The teacher smiled and held up three fingers.

"We cannot capture the ocean in a cup," he said, "but we can dip the cup and taste the sea. So the ancient ones gave us three sacred words — not to trap the Truth, but to point toward it, like three fingers pointing at the same rising sun."

He folded down the first finger. "The first is **Om** — the deep, humming sound from which all sounds are born, the note the whole universe seems to be singing. When you say Om, you are touching the very beginning of everything."

He folded the second. "The second is **Tat** — which simply means 'That.' Not this little thing or that little thing, but *That* — the one boundless Reality beyond all our small wants and names."

He folded the third. "And the third is **Sat** — 'what truly is.' The Real. The Good. The thing that does not fade or break or pretend. When something is full of Sat, it is full of truth and goodness."

Nachiketa's eyes were wide. "And these three came first?"

"Long, long ago," the teacher said softly, "it was out of these three sacred words that the wise ones drew their wisdom, that the Vedas were sung into being, and that the first sacred offerings were shaped. Om, Tat, Sat — three doorways, all opening onto the same endless light. Whenever you begin a good act with these words, you are joining your small life to that great Truth that was here before the very first dawn."

Nachiketa sat very still as the sun finally rose over the trees, and for a moment he felt the whole quiet morning humming softly, as if it had always been saying those three words all along.

चिन्तनम्

The sages said three small words can point toward something far too vast to name. What is something so big or so beautiful that words can only point toward it, never fully hold it?