Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 2.10
॥
Devanāgarī
जागरितस्थानो बहिःप्रज्ञः सप्ताङ्ग एकोनविंशतिमुखः स्थूलभुग्वैश्वानरः प्रथमः पादः
Transliteration (IAST)
jāgaritasthāno bahiḥprajñaḥ saptāṅga ekonaviṃśatimukhaḥ sthūlabhugvaiśvānaraḥ prathamaḥ pādaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जागरितस्थानः बहिःप्रज्ञःjāgaritasthānaḥ bahiḥprajñaḥabiding in waking, cognising the outer; stationed in wakefulness, aware of the external
सप्ताङ्गः एकोनविंशतिमुखःsaptāṅgaḥ ekonaviṃśatimukhaḥseven-limbed, nineteen-mouthed; of seven members, of nineteen gates
स्थूलभुक् वैश्वानरःsthūlabhuk vaiśvānaraḥenjoying the gross, Vaiśvānara; eater of the coarse, Vaiśvānara
प्रथमः पादःprathamaḥ pādaḥthe first foot; the first quarter
Translation
Abiding in waking, cognising the outer, seven-limbed, with nineteen gates, enjoying the gross — Vaiśvānara: this is the first foot.
Version
bd761d4b54a4 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first foot of the Ātman: waking.
He is named Vaiśvānara — “the man of all men” — and described in numbers which the Māṇḍūkya does not unpack.
The seven limbs, by the interpretation, are the parts of the cosmic body from the Chāndogya: heaven the head, sun and moon the eyes, the quarters the ears, and so on. The waking man is described at the scale of the universe.
The nineteen gates are that by which he communicates with the world: the five senses of perception, the five of action, the five breaths and the four inner instruments — mind, reason, selfhood and memory.
Note that the foot is called neither “a body” nor “a state” but pāda — “foot, quarter”. That is, waking is not a separate thing but a quarter of one and the same.
This is the chief thought of the Māṇḍūkya, for whose sake our book cites it. We are used to counting waking real and dream unreal. Here both are merely quarters, and both alike are not final.
And by the chart of the fifth paragraph this foot is Lakṣmaṇa — “the maker of the universe”.