Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.50
॥
Devanāgarī
ह्रं स्रं भ्रं व्रं लू अं श्रं ज्रं च लिखेत्सम्यक्ततो बहिः । द्वात्रिंशारं महापद्मं नादबिन्दुसमायुतम्
Transliteration (IAST)
hraṃ sraṃ bhraṃ vraṃ lū aṃ śraṃ jraṃ ca likhetsamyaktato bahiḥ | dvātriṃśāraṃ mahāpadmaṃ nādabindusamāyutam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ह्रं स्रं भ्रं व्रंhraṃ sraṃ bhraṃ vraṃhraṁ, sraṁ, bhraṁ, vraṁ; the syllables hraṁ, sraṁ, bhraṁ, vraṁ
लू अं श्रं ज्रंlū aṃ śraṃ jraṃlū, aṁ, śraṁ, jraṁ; the syllables lū, aṁ, śraṁ, jraṁ
च लिखेत् सम्यक् ततः बहिःca likhet samyak tataḥ bahiḥlet him write duly, then outside; let him inscribe rightly, then without
द्वात्रिंशारम् महापद्मम्dvātriṃśāram mahāpadmamthe great lotus of thirty-two rays; the great lotus with thirty-two spokes
नादबिन्दुसमायुतम्nādabindusamāyutamfurnished with nāda and bindu; with the nāda and the dot
Translation
“Hraṁ, sraṁ, bhraṁ, vraṁ, lū, aṁ, śraṁ, jraṁ” — let him write duly; and then outside — the great lotus of thirty-two rays, furnished with nāda and bindu.
Version
f47a41178d76 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Eight syllables that have no dictionary sense: they are untranslatable.
These are bījas — “seeds”. Such syllables in the rite do not mean but act; they are not interpreted but uttered. Any attempt to translate “hraṁ” would turn the seed into a word and thereby kill it.
This should be said plainly, for the reader has the right to ask what such a line is to him. The honest answer: nothing, unless he is a mantrin. The book writes here for the one who has these syllables from a teacher, and for him they are no jumble of sounds.
Then — “the great lotus of thirty-two rays”. Thirty-two petals; on them will lie the chief mantra, as the next verse will say.
Nāda and bindu — “the sound” and “the dot”. So are called the two last portions of the syllable Oṁ in its utterance: the hum, and the point in which the sound thins away and goes out.
In all these books nāda and bindu mean the limit of the audible — the edge where sound passes into soundlessness. Hence they are given to the outermost lotus: beyond it there is no writing.