Upanishads · Kaivalya 7
॥
Devanāgarī
उमासहायं परमेश्वरं प्रभुं त्रिलोचनं नीलकण्ठं प्रशान्तम् ध्यात्वा मुनिर्गच्छति भूतयोनिं समस्तसाक्षिं तमसः परस्तात्
Transliteration (IAST)
umāsahāyaṃ parameśvaraṃ prabhuṃ trilocanaṃ nīlakaṇṭhaṃ praśāntam dhyātvā munirgacchati bhūtayoniṃ samastasākṣiṃ tamasaḥ parastāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
उमासहायम् परमेश्वरम् प्रभुम्umāsahāyam parameśvaram prabhumwhose companion is Umā, the Highest Lord, the master; him whose consort is Umā, the supreme Īśvara, the ruler
त्रिलोचनम् नीलकण्ठम् प्रशान्तम्trilocanam nīlakaṇṭham praśāntamthe three-eyed, blue-throated, tranquil; with three eyes, with the dark-blue throat, serene
ध्यात्वा मुनिः गच्छति भूतयोनिम्dhyātvā muniḥ gacchati bhūtayonimcontemplating him, the sage goes to the womb of beings; meditating, the silent one reaches the source of creatures
समस्तसाक्षिम् तमसः परस्तात्samastasākṣim tamasaḥ parastātthe witness of all, beyond the darkness; the all-witness, on the far side of the dark
Translation
...him whose companion is Umā, the Highest Lord, the master, three-eyed, blue-throated, tranquil — contemplating Him, the sage goes to the womb of beings, the witness of all, who is beyond the darkness.
Version
8eef70778520 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:04:38 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
After six lines of negations a form is named, and the form is Śiva with Umā.
The features familiar to everyone are listed: trilocana — “three-eyed”, with the third eye on the brow; nīlakaṇṭha — “blue-throated”, for he drank the poison that rose at the churning of the ocean and held it in his throat.
The legend of that poison matters here more than the rest: Śiva drank what none could take, and did not let it pass.
And beside it stands umā-sahāya — “whose companion is Umā”. Not “her husband” nor “her lord”: sahāya means “companion, one who goes together”.
Note what this verse does to the whole book. The previous one called Him formless and unthinkable; this one gives a face, a throat, eyes and a companion.
The Vaiṣṇava Vedānta reads such transitions as the Rāma-tāpanī read them in the seventh verse of its first upaniṣad: the form is arranged for the sake of those who worship, and He Himself arranges it. Formlessness does not preclude form — it only means the form is not imposed on Him by matter.
And the last words of the verse — samasta-sākṣin, “the witness of all”, tamasaḥ parastāt — “beyond the darkness”.
The phrase is from the Śvetāśvatara, and it will return in the eighteenth verse, where the contemplative says of himself: “I am the witness”.