Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 34
॥
Devanāgarī
अथातो जातवेदसे सुनवाम सोममित्यादि पठित्वा त्रैपुरी व्यक्तिर्लक्ष्यते । जातवेदस इत्येकर्चसूक्तस्याद्यमध्यमावसानेषु तत्र स्थानेषु विलीनं बीजसागररूपं व्याचक्ष्वेत्यृषय ऊचुः
Transliteration (IAST)
athāto jātavedase sunavāma somamityādi paṭhitvā traipurī vyaktirlakṣyate | jātavedasa ityekarcasūktasyādyamadhyamāvasāneṣu tatra sthāneṣu vilīnaṃ bījasāgararūpaṃ vyācakṣvetyṛṣaya ūcuḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ अतः जातवेदसे सुनवाम सोमम्atha ataḥ jātavedase sunavāma somamnow, having recited «To Jātavedas let us pour soma»
इत्य्-आदि पठित्वाity-ādi paṭhitvāand the rest
त्रैपुरी व्यक्तिः लक्ष्यतेtraipurī vyaktiḥ lakṣyatethe Tripura manifestation is discerned
बीज-सागर-रूपं व्याचक्ष्वbīja-sāgara-rūpaṃ vyācakṣvaexplain the form of the ocean of seeds
इति ऋषयः ऊचुःiti ṛṣayaḥ ūcuḥthus said the seers
Translation
«Now, having recited «To Jātavedas let us pour soma» and the rest, the Tripura manifestation is discerned. «In the beginning, middle, and end of the one-line hymn «jātavedase», in those places, the dissolved form of the ocean of seeds — explain», — thus said the seers».
Version
304134a1595d · published Aug 7, 2026, 5:19:24 AM UTC
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The second part begins, and its subject will be the second of the three mantras — the durgā-sūkta. It is called bīja-sāgara-rūpam, «the form of an ocean of seeds»: bīja, «seed», is in tantra the syllable of a mantra, and it is said that in this short hymn an entire ocean of such syllables is dissolved. The image is good and explains the whole device of the book. The mantra is small — a single verse; and much is read out of it, for it is supposed that more is dissolved in it than is visible. Like salt in water: the water looks the same in amount, but a whole sea of salt is in it.
Here too one must say why such a view is dangerous. If the invisible is dissolved in the text, then anything at all can be read out of it, and there is no way to verify it. Hence Vaishnava commentators hold to the rule: an interpretation must rest on another passage of the same scripture, not on the interpreter's own perception alone.
Here, moreover, it is the ṛṣi, «seers», who ask, not disciples. The question is put not out of ignorance, but from the wish to hear it set forth; in the upaniṣads this is usual — those who know ask, so that the knowledge will be spoken aloud and thereby fixed.