Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 2.2
॥
Devanāgarī
स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः तारकं दीर्घानलं बिन्दुपूर्वकं दीर्घानलं पुनर्मायां नमश्चन्द्राय नमो भद्राय नम इत्येतद्ब्रह्मात्मिकाः सच्चिदानन्दाख्या इत्युपासितव्यम्
Transliteration (IAST)
sa hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ tārakaṃ dīrghānalaṃ bindupūrvakaṃ dīrghānalaṃ punarmāyāṃ namaścandrāya namo bhadrāya nama ityetadbrahmātmikāḥ saccidānandākhyā ityupāsitavyam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सः ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यःsaḥ ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥhe said, Yājñavalkya; and Yājñavalkya spoke
तारकम् दीर्घानलम्tārakam dīrghānalamthe ferrying one is the long “anala”; the tāraka is the protracted anala
बिन्दुपूर्वकम्bindupūrvakampreceded by the dot; with the bindu before it
पुनः मायाम् नमःpunaḥ māyām namaḥthen māyā, “namaḥ”; next māyā and namaḥ
चन्द्राय नमः भद्राय नमःcandrāya namaḥ bhadrāya namaḥ“to the Moon a bow”, “to the Good one a bow”; “worship to Candra”, “worship to Bhadra”
इति एतत् ब्रह्मात्मिकाःiti etat brahmātmikāḥthese, made of Brahman; such are they, being of Brahman
सच्चिदानन्दाख्याः इति उपासितव्यम्saccidānandākhyāḥ iti upāsitavyamnamed being-consciousness-bliss — must be honoured; called sat-cid-ānanda — are to be worshipped
Translation
Yājñavalkya said: “The ferrying one is the long ‘anala’ with the dot before it, then māyā, ‘namaḥ’ — ‘to the Moon a bow’, ‘to the Good one a bow’. These, made of Brahman, named being, consciousness and bliss — they are to be honoured.”
Version
38c17cabbbe6 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The answer is given, and given half in code, as it was in the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva.
The parts of the mantra are named in its own manner: dīrgha-anala — “the long fire”, bindu — the dot, māyā — the feminine principle. Assembled, this is the six-syllable mantra of Rāma, which the third paragraph will parse letter by letter.
But something else is more remarkable. The mantra is at once named brahmātmikā — “made of Brahman” — and sac-cid-ānanda-ākhyā — “named being, consciousness and bliss”.
These are the same three words with which the eighth verse of the fifth Upaniṣad named the form of Rāma: sac-cid-ānanda-rūpa. There they were said of the form; here — of the sounds.
It comes out that the form and the mantra are described by one and the same definition. And this is exactly what the second verse of the fourth Upaniṣad asserted outright: “the mantra is Rāma the signifier, and Rāma is the signified”.
Note also the word upāsitavyam — “must be honoured”. The mantra is not communicated as information: it is handed over for practice.
And further: it is said “to the Moon a bow, to the Good one a bow”. Both names — Candra and Bhadra — attend Rāma in the tradition, and the second we read in the fifteenth verse of the fourth Upaniṣad, where the gods called Him rāmabhadra.