Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Pūrva 27
॥
Devanāgarī
तदुहोवाच ब्राह्मणः
असावनवरतं मे ध्यातः स्तुतः
परार्धान्ते सोऽबुध्यत
Transliteration (IAST)
taduhovāca brāhmaṇaḥ
asāvanavarataṁ me dhyātaḥ stutaḥ
parārdhānte so’budhyata
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत् उ ह उवाच ब्राह्मणःtat u ha uvāca brāhmaṇaḥand Brahmā said; then the creator answered
असौasauHe; that one
अनवरतम्anavaratamunceasingly; without a break
मे ध्यातःme dhyātaḥwas contemplated by me; was called to mind by me
स्तुतःstutaḥwas praised; was glorified
परार्धान्तेparārdhānteat the end of a parārdha; when half my span had run out
सः अबुध्यतsaḥ abudhyataHe awoke; He turned His attention
Translation
And Brahmā answered: He was unceasingly contemplated and praised by me, and at the end of a parārdha He awoke to me.
Version
46766fbc0a5f · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:22:17 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The creator's account of himself begins, and it speaks of a stretch of time hard to imagine. A parārdha is half of Brahmā's life, reckoned in hundreds of his years, where one of his days equals a thousand ages.
The point of this measure is not arithmetic. It says: so long did the unceasing contemplation last before an answer followed. One who asks for a quick fruit should hear this as a sober warning; one who is weary of waiting, as a consolation: the creator waited too.
The verb chosen is an unusual one: abudhyata, "awoke", "turned His attention". Not "took pity" and not "came": He, as it were, turned toward the one calling. We saw the same image in the Śvetāśvatara, where God "stands facing men".
And two acts are named together: dhyāta and stuta — "contemplated" and "praised". Silent recollection and spoken praise go side by side; neither alone is encouraged in this book.
Note further that the narrator is Brahmā, that is, the one whom other texts call the creator of the world. Here he appears not as creator but as an ascetic who himself waited for mercy.