Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Pūrva 54
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मात् कृष्ण एव परो देवस्तं ध्यायेत्तं रसेत्तं भजेत्तं यजेदित्यो तत्सदिति
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmāt kṛṣṇa eva paro devastaṁ dhyāyettaṁ rasettaṁ bhajettaṁ yajedityo tatsaditi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात्tasmāttherefore; on that account
कृष्णः एव परः देवःkṛṣṇaḥ eva paraḥ devaḥKṛṣṇa alone is the supreme God; Kṛṣṇa is the sovereign Deity
तम् ध्यायेत्tam dhyāyetlet one contemplate Him; let him call Him to mind
तम् रसेत्tam rasetlet one taste Him; let him savour Him
तम् भजेत्tam bhajetlet one serve Him with love; let him worship Him
तम् यजेत्tam yajetlet one sacrifice to Him; let him render Him honour
इति ओं तत् सत् इतिiti oṁ tat sat iti"oṁ tat sat" thus; so: oṁ, that is the truth
Translation
Therefore Kṛṣṇa alone is the supreme God: let a man contemplate Him, taste Him, serve Him with love and sacrifice to Him. Oṁ, that is the truth.
Version
4eed4b1ca0c2 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:22:17 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The concluding mantra of the Pūrva-tāpanī returns to Brahmā's very first answer — "the supreme Deity is Kṛṣṇa" — and to the three verbs of the sixth mantra: to contemplate, to taste, to serve. A fourth is added: yajet, "let him sacrifice" — what the mantras on the rite spoke of.
The four verbs cover everything this part of the book has taught. Contemplation is the portrait of Gopāla beneath the tree. Tasting is the five-worded mantra. Service is bhakti, defined as the setting of the mind with no hope of gain. Sacrifice is the eight-petalled lotus, the three sandhyās and the offerings.
All of it is sealed with the words oṁ tat sat — "oṁ, that is the truth". This is the ancient threefold formula with which the Veda seals what has been said; many rites end with it too. Here it stands as a seal beneath the whole Pūrva-tāpanī.
Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa cites this line in the Govinda-bhāṣya in showing that the Upaniṣad itself, in summing up, names Kṛṣṇa as the supreme Deity — and that the four verbs point not to different paths but to different sides of one.
Here the first half of the book ends. The second, the Uttara-tāpanī, will begin quite differently: not with theology but with an account of how the cowherd women of Vraja wished to cross the Yamunā to feed the sage Durvāsā.