Upanishads · Subāla 6.4
॥
Devanāgarī
माता पिता भ्राता निवासः शरणं सुहृद्गतिर्नारायणः
Transliteration (IAST)
mātā pitā bhrātā nivāsaḥ śaraṇaṃ suhṛdgatirnārāyaṇaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
माता पिताmātā pitāmother, father; the one who bore and the begetter
भ्राता निवासःbhrātā nivāsaḥbrother, dwelling; brother and abode
शरणम् सुहृत्śaraṇam suhṛtrefuge, kind friend; shelter and well-wisher
गतिः नारायणःgatiḥ nārāyaṇaḥgoal — Nārāyaṇa; the way — Nārāyaṇa
Translation
Mother, father, brother, dwelling, refuge, kind friend, goal — Nārāyaṇa.
Version
378784c4342a · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:12:03 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The shortest mantra of this khaṇḍa and the warmest in the whole book.
After the list of organs and the list of deities comes the list of kinship. Mother, father, brother — the three nearest; the dwelling — the place where one lives; the refuge — where one runs in trouble; the kind friend — the one who wishes well without gain; and the goal — that toward which one goes.
All of it is one name.
It is worth noticing what the list lacks. There is no “lord”, no “judge”, no “ruler” — although the preceding mantras called Him establisher and disposer. Here is taken only that side by which He is turned toward man in his need.
And the order of the words is not accidental. Mother before father; dwelling before refuge; friend before goal. First what is given at birth, then what one comes to in trouble, and only at the last what one goes toward.
The word suhṛt means literally “good heart” — a friend who wishes well and expects no return. The Gītā will repeat it in the famous verse: “knowing Me as the friend of all beings, he attains peace”; and there it will list almost the same words — “goal, support, lord, witness, abode, refuge, friend”.
It is this very line that Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa sets beside that verse of the Gītā, proving that the difference between Creator and creation, ruler and ruled, is not cancelled by closeness: mother, friend and refuge name Him who is other — otherwise there would be no one to take refuge in.