Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 11
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्माद्भर्गो देवस्य धीमहीत्येवमीकाराक्षरं गृह्यते । महीत्यस्य व्याख्यानं महत्त्वं जडत्वं काठिन्यं विद्यते यस्मिन्नक्षतेरेतन्महि लकारः परं धाम
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmādbhargo devasya dhīmahītyevamīkārākṣaraṃ gṛhyate | mahītyasya vyākhyānaṃ mahattvaṃ jaḍatvaṃ kāṭhinyaṃ vidyate yasminnakṣateretanmahi lakāraḥ paraṃ dhāma
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात् भर्गः देवस्य धीमहि इतिtasmāt bhargaḥ devasya dhīmahi itihence «may we contemplate the radiance of the god»
एवम् ई-कार-अक्षरं गृह्यतेevam ī-kāra-akṣaraṃ gṛhyatethus the syllable «ī» is taken
महि इति अस्य व्याख्यानंmahi iti asya vyākhyānaṃ«mahi» — its explanation
महत्त्वं जडत्वं काठिन्यंmahattvaṃ jaḍatvaṃ kāṭhinyaṃgreatness, inertness, hardness
ल-कारः परं धामla-kāraḥ paraṃ dhāmathe sound «la» — the highest abode
Translation
«Hence in «may we contemplate the radiance of the god», the syllable «ī» is taken. The explanation of «mahi»: greatness, inertness, hardness — in what they abide, that is «mahi»; the sound «la» — the highest abode».
Version
d73959889a22 · published Aug 7, 2026, 5:19:24 AM UTC
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The word mahi is explained by three things: mahattva, jaḍatva, kāṭhinya — «greatness, inertness, hardness». The second and third matter more than the first: in «mahi» what is heard is not only loftiness, but above all heaviness. This is essentially correct. Mahī is one of the names of the earth in the Vedas, and the earth differs from the other principles precisely in being hard and not fluid.
Hence the syllable: la-kāra, the sound «la», is in the tantric scheme the pṛthivī-bīja, «the seed of earth». The fivefold scheme — «la» earth, «va» water, «ra» fire, «ya» wind, «ha» space — is a common convention in the tantras, though absent from the Vedas. It must be read as a conventional language: it is a glossary, not a doctrine, and there is nothing to argue about, just as there is nothing to argue about with labels on a diagram.
«La — the highest abode» sounds strange only on the surface. The earth is called highest because it is the last in the series of principles: there is nowhere further to condense, and in it everything comes to rest. The thought here is correct — the limit of manifestation is what can be touched.