Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Pūrva 48
॥
Devanāgarī
प्रसीद परमानन्द प्रसीद परमेश्वर ।
आधिव्याधि भुजङ्गेन दष्टं मामुद्धर प्रभो
Transliteration (IAST)
prasīda paramānanda prasīda parameśvara |
ādhivyādhi bhujaṅgena daṣṭaṁ māmuddhara prabho
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
प्रसीद परमानन्दprasīda paramānandabe gracious, Supreme Bliss; have mercy, Paramānanda
प्रसीद परमेश्वरprasīda parameśvarabe gracious, Supreme Lord; have mercy, Parameśvara
आधिव्याधि भुजङ्गेनādhivyādhi bhujaṅgenaby the serpent of mental and bodily ills; by the snake of anxieties and diseases
दष्टम् माम्daṣṭam māmme, who am bitten; me, who have been stung
उद्धर प्रभोuddhara prabholift out, O Master; rescue me, O Lord
Translation
Be gracious, Supreme Bliss; be gracious, Supreme Lord! Me, bitten by the serpent of mental and bodily ills, lift out, O Master.
Version
c356d61790f7 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:22:17 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The hymn passes into entreaty, and the voice changes: until now Brahmā has been listing names, now he speaks of himself.
The image is exact: ādhi and vyādhi — "anxiety" and "disease", the trouble of soul and of body — are called one serpent, and the petitioner has been bitten by it. From a snake-bite one cannot get free by effort: one needs someone who will draw out the poison.
The verb uddhara means "lift out, pull up" — it is used of hauling someone out of a pit or out of water. What is asked is not relief but extraction.
And the addresses are chosen so that the request rests on the nature of the One addressed: "Supreme Bliss" — because one who is stung needs joy; "Supreme Lord" — because one needs power over the trouble.
The word prasīda, "be gracious", is repeated twice. Many prayers of śruti begin with it, and it always means one thing: a change not in the state of affairs but in the face of the One addressed — that He should turn with kindness.