Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 5.20
॥
Devanāgarī
पितृमातृवधोत्पन्नं बुद्धिपूर्वमघं च यत् । तदनुष्ठानमात्रेण सर्वं एतद्विलीयते
Transliteration (IAST)
pitṛmātṛvadhotpannaṃ buddhipūrvamaghaṃ ca yat | tadanuṣṭhānamātreṇa sarvaṃ etadvilīyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पितृमातृवधोत्पन्नम्pitṛmātṛvadhotpannamborn of the slaying of father and mother; sprung from the killing of one's parents
बुद्धिपूर्वम् अघम् च यत्buddhipūrvam agham ca yatand what evil is done with forethought; and every sin with intent
तदनुष्ठानमात्रेणtadanuṣṭhānamātreṇaby the mere performance of this; by the single accomplishing of this
सर्वम् एतत् विलीयतेsarvam etat vilīyateall of it dissolves; all of it vanishes
Translation
“What is born of the slaying of father and mother, and every evil done with forethought — by the mere performance of this, all of it dissolves.”
Version
750d77af4c1d · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Parricide and matricide, and moreover buddhi-pūrvam — “with forethought, with the mind going before”.
This word makes the verse heavier than the previous ones. The seventeenth verse spoke of slaying mohāt, “in blindness”; here there is no blindness: the man knew what he was doing.
This distinction decides everything in the śāstras. What is done in darkness is expiable; what is done with intent — almost not.
And here even it is lifted.
Note the word anuṣṭhāna — “performance, accomplishment”: not “utterance” and not “remembrance”. It means doing by rule, a rite performed as prescribed.
That is, at the heaviest place of the list the requirement is not softened but made more exact: not to utter in passing, but to perform.
So too in the eighteenth verse it was said “having worshipped with this mantra”.
The book, then, distinguishes degrees: from the light — “from proclaiming”, to the heaviest — “by the performance of this alone”. The graver the deed, the fuller must be the turning.