Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 3.13
॥
Devanāgarī
अविमुक्ते तव क्षेत्रे सर्वेषां मुक्तिसिद्धये । अहं संनिहितस्तत्र पाषाणप्रतिमाऽऽदिषु
Transliteration (IAST)
avimukte tava kṣetre sarveṣāṃ muktisiddhaye | ahaṃ saṃnihitastatra pāṣāṇapratimā''diṣu
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अविमुक्ते तव क्षेत्रेavimukte tava kṣetrein the unforsaken, thy field; in the avimukta, thy domain
सर्वेषाम् मुक्तिसिद्धयेsarveṣām muktisiddhayefor the attainment of liberation by all; so that all may win mokṣa
अहम् संनिहितः तत्रaham saṃnihitaḥ tatraI am present there; I abide there close at hand
पाषाणप्रतिमादिषुpāṣāṇapratimādiṣuin stone images and the rest; in statues of stone and others
Translation
“In the unforsaken, thy field, for the attainment of liberation by all, I am present there — in stone images and the rest.”
Version
722f959902e7 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Rāma explains how the given promise is fulfilled, and this explanation is one of the most important places in all Vaiṣṇava literature.
It is said: ahaṁ saṁnihitas tatra — “I am present there” — and it is added where exactly: pāṣāṇa-pratimādiṣu, “in stone images and the rest”.
Here is named what the tradition calls arcā — the image for worship. And named outright: He is in the stone.
Not “represented by the stone”, not “conceived in the stone” — present.
The word saṁnihita — “being near, co-present” — is of the same root as sāṁnidhya from the seventh paragraph of the previous chapter, where by the power of His nearness Sītā made the worlds. The same root stands here.
Recall now the seventh verse of the first Upaniṣad of the pūrva: for the bodiless Brahman a form “is fashioned for the sake of the worshippers' work”. We read then that the word kalpanā can be taken both as “imagining” and as “appointing”, and that Vaiṣṇava Vedānta holds the second reading.
Here is the confirmation from the book itself. The imagined is not present in stone and does not free worms.
And note for what He is there: sarveṣāṁ mukti-siddhaye — “that all may attain liberation”. Not for worship of Himself.