Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 70
॥
Devanāgarī
कृष्णात्मिका जगत्कर्त्रीर्मूलप्रकृती रुक्मिणी
Transliteration (IAST)
kṛṣṇātmikā jagatkartrīrmūlaprakṛtī rukmiṇī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कृष्णात्मिकाkṛṣṇātmikāwhose essence is Kṛṣṇa; consisting of Kṛṣṇa
जगत्कर्त्रीjagatkartrīthe maker of the world; who creates the universe
मूलप्रकृतिःmūlaprakṛtiḥthe root nature; the primal matter
रुक्मिणीrukmiṇīRukmiṇī; she who is Rukmiṇī
Translation
Rukmiṇī is she whose essence is Kṛṣṇa, the maker of the world, the root nature.
Version
912d59864ef3 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:34:47 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Rukmiṇī is given three descriptions at once, and each calls for attention.
"Whose essence is Kṛṣṇa", kṛṣṇātmikā: she is not another being beside Him but His own nature in female form. The Śvetāśvatara says the same of śakti: the power and its Wielder are undivided, as heat and fire.
"Maker of the world" and "root nature": what Sāṅkhya ascribes to prakṛti is here ascribed to her. Thereby it is named by whose power the world unfolds, of which mantra 65 spoke.
The joining of these descriptions is the teaching of śakti: primal matter is not independent and not dead — it belongs to Him and is Himself in action.
Note that Rukmiṇī has already stood beside the quaternity in mantras 48 and 59; there she was the companion in worship, here her place in the world's structure is named. So the book joins rite and metaphysics: what is honoured beside Him is the very power by which everything is held.