Shloka 3

Adhyaya 42 — Dattatreya on the Yogic Import of Oṃ (Praṇava): Matras, Worlds, and Liberation

Sanskrit

तत्प्राप्तये महत्पुण्यमोमित्येकाक्षरं जपेत् ।

तदेवाध्ययनं तस्य स्वरूपं शृण्वतः परम् ॥

Transliteration

tatprāptaye mahatpuṇyam om ity ekākṣaraṁ japet / tad evādhyayanaṁ tasya svarūpaṁ śṛṇvataḥ param

Translation

ထိုအရာကို ရရှိရန် အလွန်မြတ်သော ကုသိုလ်ပြုစေသည့် တစ်လုံးတည်းသော သဒ္ဒါ «အိုမ် (Oṁ)» ကို ထပ်ခါထပ်ခါ ရွတ်ဆိုသင့်၏။ ထိုအရာပင် သူ၏ သင်ယူမှုဖြစ်၏။ ၎င်း၏ အမှန်တရားကို နားထောင်သိမြင်သူအတွက် ထိုဟာသည် အမြင့်ဆုံးသော သင်ကြားချက် ဖြစ်၏။

Word by Word

• तत्प्राप्तये: for attaining that
• तत्प्राप्तये: Sampradana (सम्प्रदान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् + प्राप्ति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, चतुर्थी (4th/चतुर्थी), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (तस्य प्राप्तये = for attaining that)

• महत्: great
• महत्: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महत् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; adjectival to पुण्यम् (sandhi context)

• पुण्यम्: merit, holy (act/thing)
• पुण्यम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुण्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• ओम्: Om
• ओम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ओम् (अव्यय/प्रणव)
• Form: अव्यय; sacred syllable (प्रणव) used as quoted sound

• इति: thus (as)
• इति: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; quotation marker

• एकाक्षरम्: the single syllable
• एकाक्षरम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: एक + अक्षर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; द्विगु (one-syllable)

• जपेत्: should chant
• जपेत्: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √जप् (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; ‘should repeat/chant’

• तत्: that
• तत्: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; demonstrative pronoun

• एव: indeed, alone
• एव: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; emphatic particle (अवधारण)

• अध्ययनम्: study, recitation
• अध्ययनम्: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अध्ययन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• तस्य: of that (Om)
• तस्य: Shashthi-sambandha (षष्ठी-सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुं/नपुंसक, षष्ठी, एकवचन; genitive pronoun

• स्वरूपम्: true nature, essential form
• स्वरूपम्: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्व + रूप (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (स्वं रूपं = own nature/true form)

• शृण्वतः: of the listener
• शृण्वतः: Shashthi-sambandha (षष्ठी-सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √श्रु (धातु)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्यय (present active participle/शृण्वत्), षष्ठी, एकवचन; ‘of (one) who is listening’

• परम्: supreme
• परम्: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; adjectival to स्वरूपम्

Speakers

• Dattātreya (continuing instruction)

Verse Rasa

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "bhakti", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Key Themes

• Om
• Mantra
• Japa
• Upasana
• Moksha

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

A single, concentrated practice (praṇava-japa) can unify devotion, study, and contemplation—provided one seeks its meaning, not mere repetition.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Mantra-upadeśa and yoga-sādhana material; not pancalakṣaṇa. It is a practical bridge from theology (Paramātman) to method (japa).

What is the esoteric significance?

Praṇava is treated as both sound-form and meaning-form: japa stabilizes attention; hearing/knowing its svarūpa points to śabda dissolving into artha and finally into silent awareness.