Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 2.2
॥
Devanāgarī
कारणत्वेन चिच्छक्त्या रजःसत्त्वतमोगुणैः । यथैव वटबीजस्थः प्राकृतश्च महान्द्रुमः
Transliteration (IAST)
kāraṇatvena cicchaktyā rajaḥsattvatamoguṇaiḥ | yathaiva vaṭabījasthaḥ prākṛtaśca mahāndrumaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कारणत्वेन चिच्छक्त्याkāraṇatvena cicchaktyāas cause — by the power of consciousness; by causality, through the cit-śakti
रजःसत्त्वतमोगुणैःrajaḥsattvatamoguṇaiḥby the qualities of passion, clarity, darkness; by the guṇas rajas, sattva, tamas
यथा एव वटबीजस्थःyathā eva vaṭabījasthaḥas in the banyan seed; like what is in the fig kernel
प्राकृतः च महान् द्रुमःprākṛtaḥ ca mahān drumaḥthe great tree of nature; the huge tree of nature
Translation
As cause — by the power of consciousness and by the qualities of passion, clarity and darkness; and as in the seed of the banyan abides the great tree of nature…
Version
2d8b8f086df8 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
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The verse explains in what way He is the cause, and does so through a distinction that decides much in Vedānta.
It is said: He is the cause cic-chaktyā — “by the power of consciousness” — and at the same time “by the qualities of passion, clarity and darkness”, that is, by the three guṇas of nature.
Two different powers are named side by side. One — the cit-śakti, conscious; the other — the guṇas, of which the material world is made. And that He is the cause by both removes the usual perplexity: if He is consciousness, whence unconscious matter? The answer: He has more than one power.
This is exactly the position the Śvetāśvatara expressed in the words “māyā is prakṛti, and the wielder of māyā is Maheśvara”, and on which Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa builds the doctrine of the transformation of the energy while its Wielder is unchanged.
Then begins a comparison famous throughout Indian literature: the banyan seed. A tiny kernel in which is contained a tree of such size that a village is set beneath it.
This comparison served Uddālaka in the Chāndogya, when he bade Śvetaketu split the fruit and find in it the subtlest — “that thou art”. Here it is taken for another purpose: not for subtlety, but because the great lies in the small entire.
The comparison will end in the next verse, and the seed will prove to be a syllable.