Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Pūrva 41
॥
Devanāgarī
नमः कमलनेत्राय नमः कमलमालिने ।
नमः कमलनाभाय कमलापतये नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
namaḥ kamalanetrāya namaḥ kamalamāline |
namaḥ kamalanābhāya kamalāpataye namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नमः कमलनेत्रायnamaḥ kamalanetrāyaobeisance to the Lotus-eyed; homage to Him whose eyes are lotuses
नमः कमलमालिनेnamaḥ kamalamālineobeisance to Him who wears a lotus garland; homage to Him crowned with lotuses
नमः कमलनाभायnamaḥ kamalanābhāyaobeisance to the Lotus-navelled; homage to Him from whose navel the lotus grew
कमलापतये नमःkamalāpataye namaḥto the husband of Kamalā, obeisance; to the lord of Lakṣmī, homage
Translation
Obeisance to the Lotus-eyed, obeisance to Him who wears a lotus garland, obeisance to Him from whose navel the lotus grew — obeisance to the husband of Kamalā.
Version
74e778c3e701 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:22:17 PM UTC
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The verse is built on a single word: four times kamala, "lotus", is repeated, and each time in a new sense.
Lotus-eyed is of the eyes: the same comparison as in mantra 10, where the eyes were called an opened white lotus. Wearing a lotus garland is of the adornment. Lotus-navelled is of the lotus that grew from His navel, in which Brahmā himself was born; the one uttering this hymn thereby names his own origin. And husband of Kamalā is of Lakṣmī, whose name means "the lotus one".
Thus one word binds four different planes: bodily beauty, ornament, the making of the world, and eternal wedlock. The device is common in Sanskrit prayer and highly prized: a single image holds the stanza as an axle holds a wheel.
It is worth noting too that features familiar from Viṣṇu appear here in the hymn for the first time — the lotus from the navel, Lakṣmī. The book does not separate the Kṛṣṇa of Vṛndāvana from the Viṣṇu of majesty; in the next verse the peacock feather and "the swan on the lake of Rāma's mind" will stand side by side.