Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.2
॥
Devanāgarī
मन्त्रोयं वाचको रामो रामो वाच्यः स्याद्योगएतयोः । फलतश्चैव सर्वेषां साधकानां न संशयः
Transliteration (IAST)
mantroyaṃ vācako rāmo rāmo vācyaḥ syādyogaetayoḥ | phalataścaiva sarveṣāṃ sādhakānāṃ na saṃśayaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मन्त्रः अयम् वाचकः रामःmantraḥ ayam vācakaḥ rāmaḥthis mantra is Rāma the signifier; this mantra is the Rāma-signifier
रामः वाच्यः स्यात्rāmaḥ vācyaḥ syātand Rāma is the signified; Rāma is what is signified
योगः एतयोःyogaḥ etayoḥthe union of these two; the bond between them
फलतः च एव सर्वेषाम्phalataḥ ca eva sarveṣāmand by fruit for all; and by the fruit with all
साधकानाम् न संशयःsādhakānām na saṃśayaḥthe practicants — no doubt; the strivers, without doubt
Translation
This mantra is Rāma the signifier, and Rāma is the signified; the union of these two is, by its fruit, what comes to all practicants — without doubt.
Version
5a19aef7542d · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse sets the distinction without which a mantra remains a set of sounds: vācaka and vācya — “the signifier” and “the signified”.
Usually word and thing are so distinguished: the word “pot” is not a pot. Here, however, something else is said: the signifier is Rāma and the signified is Rāma. The name does not point to Him from afar; the name is He in sound.
Hence the “yoga of these two” — the union — is named. The fruit of repetition is not that the repeater receives something; the fruit is in the very meeting of the name with its Bearer, which takes place in the repeater's mouth.
This position the Vaiṣṇava tradition holds firmly and in all its branches: the name and the Named are not divided as word and thing are divided in common life. The Gopāla-tāpanī spoke of the same, promising fruit to one who uttered the mantra “even once”.
It is added: “to all practicants, without doubt”. That is, this is not the rare experience of a few but what happens to everyone who holds to the mantra.