Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 47
॥
Devanāgarī
तां हि ये यजन्ति ते मृत्युं तरन्ति मुक्तिं लभन्ते
गर्भजन्मजरामरणतापत्रयात्मकं दुःखं तरन्ति
Transliteration (IAST)
tāṁ hi ye yajanti te mṛtyuṁ taranti muktiṁ labhante
garbhajanmajarāmaraṇatāpatrayātmakaṁ duḥkhaṁ taranti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ताम् हि ये यजन्तिtām hi ye yajantiand they who worship it; those who serve it
ते मृत्युम् तरन्तिte mṛtyum taranticross over death; they pass across death
मुक्तिम् लभन्तेmuktim labhanteobtain liberation; they receive release
गर्भजन्मजरामरणgarbhajanmajarāmaraṇathe womb, birth, old age and death; conception, birth, decrepitude, demise
तापत्रयात्मकम् दुःखम्tāpatrayātmakam duḥkhamand the suffering made of the three fevers; the grief of the three kinds of burning
तरन्तिtarantithey overcome; they pass beyond
Translation
And they who worship it cross over death and obtain liberation; they overcome the suffering of the womb, of birth, of old age and death, and the grief that burns with the threefold fever.
Version
058cb016f82d · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:30:24 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The promise for honouring the abode. Four hardships of bodily life are listed: dwelling in the womb, birth, old age and death; and to them is added "grief that burns with the threefold fever".
Tāpa-traya, the three fevers, is a well-known division of troubles: those arising from oneself (illness, passions), from other beings (enmity, wild animals), and from the gods and the elements (heat, storm, natural calamity). Between them they exhaust everything that wounds life.
Note the order: liberation from death is named first, then deliverance from suffering. The second matters no less than the first: the book does not promise immortality at the price of indifference to pain, but promises an end to both.
The verb taranti, "they cross, they swim across", brings back the image of the crossing with which this part began: the cowherd women crossed the Yamunā by a word. By the same word death too is crossed.
And note what is worshipped: not only the Lord, but the place, tām — "it", Mathurā. The abode is here named an object of worship equal to Him who has manifested there.