Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 5.3
॥
Devanāgarī
अथाष्टारमष्टपत्रं चक्रं भवत्यष्टाक्षरा वै गायत्री गायत्र्या संमितं भवति बहिर्मायया वेष्टितं भवति क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रं वै मायैषा सम्पद्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
athāṣṭāramaṣṭapatraṃ cakraṃ bhavatyaṣṭākṣarā vai gāyatrī gāyatryā saṃmitaṃ bhavati bahirmāyayā veṣṭitaṃ bhavati kṣetraṃ kṣetraṃ vai māyaiṣā sampadyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ अष्टारम् अष्टपत्रम् चक्रम्atha aṣṭāram aṣṭapatram cakramthen a circle of eight spokes and eight petals; next a cakra of eight spokes and petals
अष्टाक्षरा वै गायत्रीaṣṭākṣarā vai gāyatrīfor the gāyatrī is of eight syllables; since the gāyatrī has eight syllables
गायत्र्या संमितम् भवतिgāyatryā saṃmitam bhavatiit is measured by the gāyatrī; it is commensurate with the gāyatrī
बहिः मायया वेष्टितम् भवतिbahiḥ māyayā veṣṭitam bhavatioutside it is wrapped by māyā; without it is wound about by māyā
क्षेत्रम् क्षेत्रम् वै माया एषाkṣetram kṣetram vai māyā eṣāfield upon field — this māyā; field, field is this māyā
सम्पद्यतेsampadyateis composed; comes to be
Translation
Then there is a circle of eight spokes and eight petals: for the gāyatrī is of eight syllables, and by it it is measured; and outside it is wrapped by māyā. Field upon field — so is this māyā composed.
Version
63557ca90322 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second ring: eight.
The ground is the gāyatrī, which has eight syllables in each of its three lines. We read in the eighth paragraph of the fourth Upaniṣad of the eight-syllable word of the Sāvitrī: “ghṛṇi, sūrya, āditya”.
Then something is added that the previous paragraph lacked: kṣetraṁ kṣetraṁ vai māyaiṣā sampadyate — “field upon field, so is this māyā composed”.
The word kṣetra is “field”, and in the Gītā the body is so named: “this body is called the field, and he who knows it — the knower of the field”.
That is, the māyā wrapping the circle outside is composed of fields — of bodies, one after another.
So it is explained what she is in fact. Not a fog and not glamour in general: the succession of bodies in which the living one finds himself.
Note the doubling kṣetraṁ kṣetram. In Sanskrit repetition means “each, one after another”. A field, and another field, and another.