अनुपनीतशतमेकमेकेनोपनीतेन तत्सममुपनीतशतमेकमेकेन गृहस्थेन तत्समं गृहस्थशतमेकमेकेन वानप्रस्थेन तत्समं वानप्रस्थशतमेकमेकेन यतिना तत्समं यतीनां तु शतं पूर्णमेकमेकेन रुद्रजापकेन तत्समं रुद्रजापकशतमेकमेकेनाथर्वशिरः शिखाध्यापकेन तत्सममथर्वशिरः शिखाध्यापकशतमेकमेकेन तापनीयोपनिषदध्यापकेन तत्समं तापनीयोपनिषदध्यापकशतमेकमेकेन मन्त्रराजध्यापकेन तत्समम्
anupanītaśatamekamekenopanītena tatsamamupanītaśatamekamekena gṛhasthena tatsamaṃ gṛhasthaśatamekamekena vānaprasthena tatsamaṃ vānaprasthaśatamekamekena yatinā tatsamaṃ yatīnāṃ tu śataṃ pūrṇamekamekena rudrajāpakena tatsamaṃ rudrajāpakaśatamekamekenātharvaśiraḥ śikhādhyāpakena tatsamamatharvaśiraḥ śikhādhyāpakaśatamekamekena tāpanīyopaniṣadadhyāpakena tatsamaṃ tāpanīyopaniṣadadhyāpakaśatamekamekena mantrarājadhyāpakena tatsamam
A hundred uninitiated equal one initiated; a hundred initiated — one householder; a hundred householders — one forest-dweller; a hundred forest-dwellers — one ascetic; a full hundred ascetics — one repeater of the Rudra; a hundred repeaters of the Rudra — one who teaches the Atharvaśiras and Śikhā; a hundred teachers of the Atharvaśiras — one who teaches the Tāpanīya Upaniṣad; a hundred teachers of the Tāpanīya — one who teaches the king of mantras.
74e959124087 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A ladder of eight steps, each a hundredfold above the last.
The uninitiated, the initiated, the householder, the forest-dweller, the ascetic, the repeater of the Rudra, the teacher of the Atharvaśiras, the teacher of the Tāpanīya, the teacher of the mantra-rāja.
The device is known in the śruti: so the Taittirīya counts the degrees of bliss, multiplying each by a hundred, from human happiness to the bliss of Brahman.
Here it is not joys that are counted, but men.
Note what stands on the fifth step: the yati, the ascetic, the renouncer. Above him — simply “the repeater of the Rudra”.
That is, renunciation, the summit of the whole ladder of the orders of life, proves lower than the repetition of the name. We read the same in the fourth book of this collection and have noted more than once that the Vaiṣṇava tradition holds this reckoning firmly.
And more: on the seventh step the Atharvaśiras is named — the very book that stands seventeenth in our collection. And on the eighth — “the Tāpanīya Upaniṣad”, that is, this one itself.
The book counts itself too, and does not set itself at the summit: above stands the one who teaches the mantra itself.