Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 1
॥
Devanāgarī
एकदा हि व्रजस्त्रियः सकामाः शर्वरीमुषित्वा
सर्वेश्वरं गोपालं कृष्णम् हि ता ऊचिरे
Transliteration (IAST)
ekadā hi vrajastriyaḥ sakāmāḥ śarvarīmuṣitvā
sarveśvaraṁ gopālaṁ kṛṣṇam hi tā ūcire
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एकदा हिekadā hionce; on a certain occasion
व्रजस्त्रियःvrajastriyaḥthe women of Vraja; the cowherd women
सकामाःsakāmāḥfull of love; moved by desire
शर्वरीम् उषित्वाśarvarīm uṣitvāhaving spent the night; having passed the night
सर्वेश्वरम्sarveśvaramthe Lord of all; the master of everything
गोपालम् कृष्णम्gopālam kṛṣṇamGopāla Kṛṣṇa; the cowherd Kṛṣṇa
हि ताः ऊचिरेhi tāḥ ūcirethey addressed; they spoke to Him
Translation
Once the women of Vraja, full of love, having spent the night with Him, addressed the Lord of all — the cowherd Kṛṣṇa.
Version
cba6cc05097f · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:30:24 PM UTC
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The book's second half begins quite unlike the first. There were the questions of sages and the answers of the creator; here it is early morning in Vraja and a conversation of the cowherd women with Kṛṣṇa.
Two namings are set side by side at once: sarveśvara, "Lord of all", and gopāla, "cowherd". The neighbourhood is no slip: He who spent the night dancing with village women is called the Lord of the universe. The Uttara-tāpanī will unfold this doubleness to the end — as far as the question, "how then was He, the highest, born on earth?"
The word sakāmāḥ, "full of love", usually means "desiring"; the commentators explain that this desire is directed to Kṛṣṇa alone and is therefore not self-interest. In the first part of the book bhakti was defined as "the setting of the mind on Him with no hope for what is here or hereafter" — here the same thing is shown not by definition but by a scene.
Note too that the questioners are women. In the Upaniṣads this is not the first instance — Gārgī questions Yājñavalkya, Maitreyī receives the highest teaching — but here the questioners are many, and the teaching will be given to them all.
Tradition names the chief among them as Gāndharvī; her name will sound in mantra 12.