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Upanishads · Gāruḍa 2.11
॥
Devanāgarī
यदि शङ्खकदूतोऽसि यदि वा शङ्खकः स्वयं सचरति सचरति तत्कारी मत्कारी विषनाशिनी विषदूषिणी हतं विषं नष्टं विषं हतमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण विषं हतं ते ब्रह्मणा विषमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहा
Transliteration (IAST)
yadi śaṅkhakadūto'si yadi vā śaṅkhakaḥ svayaṃ sacarati sacarati tatkārī matkārī viṣanāśinī viṣadūṣiṇī hataṃ viṣaṃ naṣṭaṃ viṣaṃ hatamindrasya vajreṇa viṣaṃ hataṃ te brahmaṇā viṣamindrasya vajreṇa svāhā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यदि शङ्खक-दूतः असिyadi śaṅkhaka-dūtaḥ asiif you are the messenger of Śaṅkhaka
यदि वा शङ्खकः स्वयम्yadi vā śaṅkhakaḥ svayamor if you are Śaṅkhaka himself
सचरति सचरतिsacarati sacaratimoving, moving
विष-नाशिनी विष-दूषिणीviṣa-nāśinī viṣa-dūṣiṇīdestroying poison, corrupting poison
हतं विषं नष्टं विषम्hataṃ viṣaṃ naṣṭaṃ viṣampoison is slain, poison has perished
हतम् इन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहाhatam indrasya vajreṇa svāhāslain by the thunderbolt of Indra — svāhā
Translation
«If you are the messenger of Śaṅkhaka, or if you are Śaṅkhaka himself — "moving, moving… poison is slain, poison has perished, slain by the thunderbolt of Indra, slain in you by brahman — svāhā».
Version
985cf8d5ebcf · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The most enigmatic phrase of the refrain deserves examination: tat-kārī mat-kārī, “doing that, doing me.” The expression is obscure and interpreted variously. First reading: the knowledge does that (that is, what is wanted of it) and does me (that is, remakes the speaker).
Second reading: “acting by that and by mine,” that is, knowledge that acts both by itself and by the speaker's will. Both readings are possible; and it is worth saying why the first seems truer to me. In a charm, the speaker is no bystander: he draws himself into the matter, and hence the refrain names both the object and himself.
On this reading, the phrase turns out unexpectedly deep: it is said that the knowledge affects not only the deed, but also the one who utters it. The Vaiṣṇava side holds this as its own, expressing it through the word abhyāsa: one who repeats is changed by repeating, and that a rut is overgrown not by erasing but by new travel was discussed reading the Varāha (4.16). Let us add what it says of the change itself.
Its position was cited reading the Śāṭyāyanīya (3): yac-cittas tan-mayo bhavati, “whatever the mind, that is what one becomes.” That is, a person becomes what he is occupied with; and hence even in a charm spoken for the body's sake, there is a grain of truth: the speaker becomes his own word, whatever it may be.