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Upanishads · Dattātreya 3.7
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्माच्छिष्यं भक्तं प्रतिगृह्णीयात् । सोऽनन्तफलमश्नुते । स जीवन्मुक्तो भवतीत्याह भगवान्नारायणो ब्रह्माणमित्युपनिषत्
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmācchiṣyaṃ bhaktaṃ pratigṛhṇīyāt | so'nantaphalamaśnute | sa jīvanmukto bhavatītyāha bhagavānnārāyaṇo brahmāṇamityupaniṣat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात् शिष्यं भक्तं प्रतिगृह्णीयात्tasmāt śiṣyaṃ bhaktaṃ pratigṛhṇīyāttherefore let him accept a devoted pupil
सः अनन्त-फलम् अश्नुतेsaḥ ananta-phalam aśnutehe tastes an endless fruit
सः जीवत्-मुक्तः भवतिsaḥ jīvat-muktaḥ bhavatihe becomes liberated while living
इति आह भगवान् नारायणःiti āha bhagavān nārāyaṇaḥthus said the Lord Nārāyaṇa
ब्रह्माणम् इति उपनिषत्brahmāṇam iti upaniṣatto Brahmā; such is the upaniṣad
Translation
«Therefore let him accept a devoted pupil; he tastes an endless fruit, he becomes liberated while living. Thus said the Lord Nārāyaṇa to Brahmā. Such is the upaniṣad».
Version
05e14754fe29 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The book ends, and it deserves noting exactly what it ends with: not a promise and not a mantra, but the instruction śiṣyaṃ bhaktaṃ pratigṛhṇīyāt, “let him accept a devoted pupil.” That is, the last word is turned not inward, but outward. This detail, to my mind, is the finest thing in this book, and deserves stating.
The whole book has been about how to acquire: mantras, syllables, placements, fruits. And the last line says: pass it on. And the fruit is named precisely for this: not for repetition, but for transmission.
The Vaiṣṇava side stands on exactly this, and that the one who has attained is called a ferryman, not a passenger, was discussed reading the Śāṭyāyanīya (31). Let us add the word bhaktam, “devoted”: not just anyone is to be accepted, but the devoted; and this qualification repeats what stood in the first chapter (1.10). Let us, finally, look back over the whole book, for it is uneven.
It is mantra-śāstra, and most of it is syllables with counts; reading it straight through is tedious and unnecessary. But it contains four passages worth reading. The first — the banyan seed (1.3), with the Chāndogya's story of what is not seen and of what the tree stands.
The second — the grammar of the mantras (1.5, 1.6, 1.11): the word “homage” is called the power, the vocative and dative cases the pin, and the word uttered is “come.” A bow, a call, and a plea to come are not performed toward an impersonal first principle. The third — the eight-address verse (1.14), where beside the name Dattātreya stand Hare and Kṛṣṇa, and he himself is called “child-ghoul.”
The fourth — this very last word: pass it on. And of the second chapter, with its six acts, we have said what needed saying, and shall not repeat it.