Upanishads · Mantrikā 3
॥
Devanāgarī
अशक्यः सोऽन्यथा द्रष्टुं ध्यायमानः कुमारकैः । विकारजननीमज्ञामष्टरूपामजां ध्रुवाम्
Transliteration (IAST)
aśakyaḥ so'nyathā draṣṭuṃ dhyāyamānaḥ kumārakaiḥ | vikārajananīmajñāmaṣṭarūpāmajāṃ dhruvām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अशक्यः सः अन्यथा द्रष्टुम्aśakyaḥ saḥ anyathā draṣṭumimpossible to see him otherwise; he cannot be beheld in any other way
ध्यायमानः कुमारकैःdhyāyamānaḥ kumārakaiḥcontemplated by the striplings; pondered by the youths
विकारजननीम् अज्ञाम्vikārajananīm ajñāmthe mother of modifications, the unknown one; the genetrix of transformations, the unknowing one
अष्टरूपाम् अजाम् ध्रुवाम्aṣṭarūpām ajām dhruvāmeight-formed, unborn, immovable; of eight shapes, unborn, firm
Translation
Impossible to see him otherwise — him whom the striplings contemplate; and her, the mother of modifications, unknown, eight-formed, unborn and immovable...
Version
860a1ac6a7ec · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:00:17 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse passes from Him to her — to that principle for whose sake Baladeva cites this book.
She is named by four words: vikāra-jananī — “the mother of modifications”; ajñā — “unknown” or “unknowing”; aṣṭa-rūpā — “eight-formed”; ajā dhruvā — “unborn, immovable”.
On the word ajā everything hangs. It means “unborn” and at the same time “she-goat”; and in the Śvetāśvatara there is the famous verse: “one unborn female, red, white and black, bringing forth abundant offspring, is loved by one unborn male; another unborn male, having enjoyed her, abandons her”.
The dispute over who this “unborn one” is, is ancient in the Vedānta. The Sāṅkhya says: she is prakṛti, an independent principle. The Vedānta answers: no, she is the Lord's power, not a second self-standing principle.
And here our book supplies the argument: she is called aṣṭa-rūpā, “eight-formed” — that is, the very eightfold set of principles which the Gītā lists as “My lower nature”. The eight-formed belongs to Someone.
Note also kumārakaiḥ — “by the striplings”. The word will return in the sixth verse; there it will be said that the striplings drink her.