Upanishads · Garbha 7
॥
Devanāgarī
अहो दुःखोदधौ मग्नो न पश्यामि प्रतिक्रियाम् यदि योन्याः प्रमुच्ये ऽहं तत् प्रपद्ये महेश्वरम्
Transliteration (IAST)
aho duḥkhodadhau magno na paśyāmi pratikriyām yadi yonyāḥ pramucye 'haṃ tat prapadye maheśvaram
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अहो दुःखोदधौ मग्नःaho duḥkhodadhau magnaḥalas, plunged in the ocean of sorrow; woe, I am sunk in the sea of grief
न पश्यामि प्रतिक्रियाम्na paśyāmi pratikriyāmI see no remedy; I find no counter-measure
यदि योन्याः प्रमुच्ये अहम्yadi yonyāḥ pramucye ahamif I am freed from the womb; should I come out of the womb
तत् प्रपद्ये महेश्वरम्tat prapadye maheśvaramthen I take refuge in Maheśvara; then I resort to Maheśvara
Translation
“Alas, I am plunged in the ocean of sorrow and see no remedy; if I come out of this womb — I will give myself to Maheśvara.”
Version
65e34914181c · published Jul 29, 2026, 2:57:05 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first of four vows, and all will begin alike: “if I come out of this womb”.
First the confession: duḥkhodadhau magnaḥ — “plunged in the ocean of sorrow”; and na paśyāmi pratikriyām, “I see no remedy”.
The word pratikriyā means “counter-action, answering measure”: that with which one meets a calamity. He has gone through them all and found none.
With this, everything that follows begins. Not with someone's advice, but with the fact that no means are left.
And then it is said: prapadye — “I give myself, I take refuge”.
The verb pra-pad means “to fall at, to come under protection”; from it comes the word prapatti, by which the Vaiṣṇava tradition names the complete handing over of oneself.
The first to be named is Maheśvara — that is, Śiva.
The next verse will name Nārāyaṇa; the third, sāṅkhya and yoga; the fourth, the eternal Brahman. Four refuges in a row.
This enumeration is neither a dispute nor a choice: the book names everything to which men resort, and rejects none. What they share is one thing — the movement away from oneself.