Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 5.29
॥
Devanāgarī
शान्तः प्रसन्नवदनो नक्रोधो भक्तवत्सलः । अनेन सदृशो मन्त्रो जगत्स्वपि न विद्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
śāntaḥ prasannavadano nakrodho bhaktavatsalaḥ | anena sadṛśo mantro jagatsvapi na vidyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शान्तः प्रसन्नवदनःśāntaḥ prasannavadanaḥcalm, with a bright face; peaceful, clear of countenance
न क्रोधः भक्तवत्सलःna krodhaḥ bhaktavatsalaḥwithout wrath, tender to his devotees; void of anger, loving toward the bhaktas
अनेन सदृशः मन्त्रःanena sadṛśaḥ mantraḥa mantra like unto this; an incantation equal to this
जगत्सु अपि न विद्यतेjagatsu api na vidyateis not found even in the worlds; cannot be found in all the universes
Translation
“Calm, with a bright face, without wrath, tender to his devotees — a mantra like unto this is not to be found even in the worlds.”
Version
5bff0197e207 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse gives the book's last description of Rāma, and it is shorter than all before: four words.
Śānta — “calm”. Prasanna-vadana — “with a bright face”; this expression stood in the eighth verse of the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva, at the first contemplation. Na krodhaḥ — “without wrath”.
The last deserves special note. In the twenty-seventh verse of that same Upaniṣad He was named krodha-rūpin, “having the form of wrath”, as He marched on Laṅkā. I said then: wrath is a form, not a state.
Here is the confirmation: in the final description there is no wrath.
And the fourth word — bhakta-vatsala. Vatsala means “tender, as a cow toward her calf”; the word describes not favour from above but attachment.
This is the fourth and last use of the root bhakti in the book. The first stood with Hanumān, the second at the end of the pūrva-tāpanī, the third in the mouth of Rāma Himself in the third chapter of the uttara.
And here is the sum: He is tender toward them.
After the forty-seven names of the previous chapter, after Brahman, death, the stars and the syllable Oṁ — the last thing said of Him is the homeliest.