Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Pūrva 52
॥
Devanāgarī
अमुं पञ्चपदं मन्त्रमावर्तयेद् यः
स यात्यनायासतः केवलं तत्पदं
Transliteration (IAST)
amuṁ pañcapadaṁ mantramāvartayed yaḥ
sa yātyanāyāsataḥ kevalaṁ tatpadaṁ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अमुम् पञ्चपदम् मन्त्रम्amum pañcapadam mantramthis five-worded mantra; this manu of five words
आवर्तयेत् यःāvartayet yaḥwhoever repeats; he who recites it
सः यातिsaḥ yātihe goes; that one reaches
अनायासतःanāyāsataḥwithout effort; without strain
केवलम् तत् पदम्kevalam tat padamto that abode alone; to that place precisely
Translation
Whoever repeats this five-worded mantra goes without effort to that very abode.
Version
7a0884c9342d · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:22:17 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The promise is stated in two words, and both are worth weighing.
Anāyāsataḥ — "without effort, without strain". The word āyāsa means exhausting labour; it is said that this road is walked without breaking oneself. After the descriptions of yoga, rites and austerities such a promise sounds almost defiant, but it is the very peculiarity of the way of the name: it demands neither strength nor health nor special conditions.
Kevalam — "only, alone": he goes precisely to that abode and not elsewhere. The word cuts off the side-fruits: not to heaven, not to power, not to occult attainments.
Together it makes an exact formula: without strain — and straight to the goal. The later tradition will refer to such passages in explaining why in our age the name is called the chief means: not because it is easier, but because it is the only thing within our strength.
And note the verb āvartayet, "repeats, turns round": the same root as in "turning". The mantra is not uttered once — it is turned about oneself like a wheel.