Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 2.17
॥
Devanāgarī
यो देवो अग्नौ यो अप्सु यो विश्वं भुवनम् आविवेश ।
य ओषधीषु यो वनस्पतीषु तस्मै देवाय नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo devo agnau yo apsu yo viśvaṃ bhuvanam āviveśa /
ya oṣadhīṣu yo vanaspatīṣu tasmai devāya namo namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यः देवःyaḥ devaḥthe God who; that Deity which
अग्नौagnauis in fire; within flame
यः अप्सुyaḥ apsuwho is in the waters; the one that is in water
यः विश्वम्yaḥ viśvamwho into the whole; the one that into the whole
भुवनम्bhuvanamworld; inhabited universe
आविवेशāviveśahas entered; has penetrated
यः ओषधीषुyaḥ oṣadhīṣuwho is in the herbs; the one that is in plants
यः वनस्पतीषुyaḥ vanaspatīṣuwho is in the forest trees; the one that is in the great trees
तस्मै देवायtasmai devāyato that God; to this Deity
नमः नमःnamaḥ namaḥobeisance, obeisance; worship and worship again
Translation
The God who is in fire, who is in the waters, who has entered the whole world, who is in the herbs and who is in the forest trees — to that God be obeisance, obeisance.
Version
1b2dd9b1ae80 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
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The adhyāya that began with ritual mantras and passed through posture, breath and the choice of a place ends not with a conclusion but with a bow. This is its chief lesson about yoga: technique leads to worship, it does not replace it.
The places where He is found are named in ascending order and with evident love for the ordinary: the fire of the hearth, water, the whole inhabited world, herbs, trees. The last two are especially touching — after the cosmic "has entered the whole world" the Upaniṣad comes back to what grows underfoot and rustles overhead.
The verb āviveśa, "has entered", is important: He is not fire and He is not a tree — He has entered them. The world is holy not in itself but by a presence; and therefore reverence for water, herbs and trees is not a worship of the elements but respect for Him whose dwelling they are. Vedānta will later put this as a rule: everything that exists is "the body of Hari", and one who is undivided in devotion bows to rivers and trees as to the garment of the Beloved.
The repeated "obeisance, obeisance" is not decoration. It is an ancient mark of completion: so a full stop is set at the end of a section — and so too, at the end of the first adhyāya, the last line was said twice.
Ahead is the third adhyāya, where the God to whom obeisance has been made here will be named and described as the One who stands above all the gods.