Upanishads · Mantrikā 4
॥
Devanāgarī
ध्यायतेऽध्यासिता तेन तन्यते प्रेर्यते पुनः । सूयते पुरुषार्थं च तेनैवाधिष्ठितं जगत्
Transliteration (IAST)
dhyāyate'dhyāsitā tena tanyate preryate punaḥ | sūyate puruṣārthaṃ ca tenaivādhiṣṭhitaṃ jagat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ध्यायते अध्यासिता तेनdhyāyate adhyāsitā tenashe is contemplated, mounted by him; she is pondered, ridden by him
तन्यते प्रेर्यते पुनःtanyate preryate punaḥis stretched out, is impelled again; is spread forth and moved once more
सूयते पुरुषार्थम् चsūyate puruṣārtham caand brings forth for the Puruṣa's purpose; and generates for the puruṣa's need
तेन एव अधिष्ठितम् जगत्tena eva adhiṣṭhitam jagatby him alone is the world governed; by him is the universe ruled
Translation
...she is contemplated, mounted by him, stretched out and impelled again, and brings forth for the Puruṣa's purpose; by him alone is this world governed.
Version
807346b89945 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:00:17 AM UTC
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The verse completes the point for which Baladeva cites this book: prakṛti is not independent.
Four verbs in a row, and all of them passive: adhyāsitā — “mounted, settled upon”; tanyate — “is stretched out”; preryate — “is impelled”; adhiṣṭhitam — “is governed”.
She does nothing of herself. She has been mounted, stretched, pushed; and the world she weaves is governed not by her.
This is the Vedānta's argument against the Sāṅkhya, and an argument from śruti, not from reasoning. The Sāṅkhya teaches that prakṛti unfolds of her own accord while the puruṣa merely looks on; here the opposite is said.
Note the phrase puruṣārtham — “for the Puruṣa's purpose”. She brings forth neither on her own initiative nor for her own sake.
We read the same in the Śvetāśvatara, where māyā was named prakṛti and the wielder of māyā, Maheśvara; and in the seventh paragraph of the second chapter of the uttara-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī, where Sītā created the worlds “by the power of Śrī-Rāma's nearness”.
Here the same thought is given in verbs: not “she is His”, but “she is led”.