Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 108
॥
Devanāgarī
ओम् योऽसौ प्रधानात्मा गोपालः
ओम् तत्सद् भूर्भुवः
स्वस्तस्मै वै नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
om yo'sau pradhānātmā gopālaḥ
om tatsad bhūrbhuvaḥ
svastasmai vai namo namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं यः असौoṁ yaḥ asauoṁ, He who; oṁ, the one who
प्रधानात्मा गोपालःpradhānātmā gopālaḥis Gopāla, the soul of pradhāna; Gopāla, essence of primal matter
ओं तत् सत्oṁ tat satoṁ, that is the truth; oṁ, that is the real
भूः भुवः स्वःbhūḥ bhuvaḥ svaḥearth, air, heaven; the three worlds
तस्मै वै नमः नमःtasmai vai namaḥ namaḥto Him obeisance and obeisance; to him precisely homage again and again
Translation
Oṁ, that Gopāla who is the soul of pradhāna. Oṁ, that is the truth; earth, air, heaven. To Him obeisance and obeisance.
Version
c9aa678b9b3e · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:36:50 PM UTC
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The second invocation: Gopāla as pradhānātmā — "the soul of pradhāna", that is, of primal matter.
Pradhāna has already been named in this book at mantra 65, where the order of the world's unfolding was listed, and in the Śvetāśvatara, where it is said: "the perishable is pradhāna, the imperishable is Hara; over the perishable and over the soul the one God rules".
Here it is said more strongly: He does not merely rule primal matter but is its soul. That is, the stuff of the world is neither autonomous nor dead: it has Him within it.
This agrees with the image of the spider from the Śvetāśvatara: the threads are born of pradhāna, but it is He Himself who puts them out.
Note that the name remains a cowherd's. It is not an abstract Īśvara who is called the soul of primal matter, but Gopāla — and in this is the whole sense of the litany: the highest descriptions are applied to Him who is known by name.