Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.66
॥
Devanāgarī
अपुत्राणां पुत्रदं च बहुना किमनेन वै । प्राप्नुवन्ति क्षणात्सम्यगत्र धर्मादिकानपि
Transliteration (IAST)
aputrāṇāṃ putradaṃ ca bahunā kimanena vai | prāpnuvanti kṣaṇātsamyagatra dharmādikānapi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अपुत्राणाम् पुत्रदम् चaputrāṇām putradam caand giving a son to the sonless; and granting a son to those without offspring
बहुना किम् अनेन वैbahunā kim anena vaiwhat use of many words; what profit in long speeches
प्राप्नुवन्ति क्षणात् सम्यक्prāpnuvanti kṣaṇāt samyakthey obtain in a moment and in full; they receive at once and entirely
अत्र धर्मादिकान् अपिatra dharmādikān apihere dharma and the rest as well; here both the law and the remainder
Translation
And to the sonless it gives a son; what need of many words? Here in a moment and in full they obtain both dharma and all the rest.
Version
3798cdaf37d7 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of fruits is finished, and the first of them is a son for the sonless.
This wish is mentioned constantly in the old books and is not counted low: childlessness there is not a private sorrow but the ceasing of the line and of the rites.
Then a turn usual in the śāstras: bahunā kim anena — “what need of many words?” So an enumeration is cut short when it threatens to drag on.
And instead of a list, “dharma and the rest” are named, dharmādi. This is a reference to the four aims of life known to everyone: dharma — duty, artha — welfare, kāma — desires, mokṣa — liberation.
The first is named; the others are implied by “and the rest”.
Note that mokṣa was already named in the previous verse, and named first. Here it falls into the common list — and rightly: first the chief thing apart, then everything together.
There is sobriety in this too. A book that for eight verses wrote a secret code and drew a maṇḍala with serpents at the edges ends by saying that a man will receive wealth and children.
The one does not hinder the other. We read the same at the end of the Gopāla-tāpanī: everything is given, but given together with Him, not instead of Him.