सदोदितां स्पष्टीकृत्वा जातवेदसे सुनवाम सोममित्यादि पठित्वा पूर्वं सदात्मासनरूपां विद्यां स्मृत्वा वेद इत्यादिना विश्वाहसंततोदयबैन्दवमुपरि विन्यस्य सिद्धासनस्थां त्रिपुरां मालिनीं विद्यां स्पष्टीकृत्वा जातवेदसे सुनवाम सोममित्यादि पठित्वा त्रिपुरां सुन्दरीं श्रित्वा कले अक्षरे विचिन्त्य मूर्तिभूतां मूर्तिरूपिणीं सर्वविद्येश्वरीं त्रिपुरां विद्यां स्पष्टीकृत्वा जातवेदस इत्यादि पठित्वा त्रिपुरां लक्ष्मीं श्रित्वाग्निं निदहाति
sadoditāṃ spaṣṭīkṛtvā jātavedase sunavāma somamityādi paṭhitvā pūrvaṃ sadātmāsanarūpāṃ vidyāṃ smṛtvā veda ityādinā viśvāhasaṃtatodayabaindavamupari vinyasya siddhāsanasthāṃ tripurāṃ mālinīṃ vidyāṃ spaṣṭīkṛtvā jātavedase sunavāma somamityādi paṭhitvā tripurāṃ sundarīṃ śritvā kale akṣare vicintya mūrtibhūtāṃ mūrtirūpiṇīṃ sarvavidyeśvarīṃ tripurāṃ vidyāṃ spaṣṭīkṛtvā jātavedasa ityādi paṭhitvā tripurāṃ lakṣmīṃ śritvāgniṃ nidahāti
«…the point ever-rising in unbroken succession on every day, placed above, — Tripurā Mālinī seated on the siddhāsana… become an image, having the form of an image, mistress of all sciences… having resorted to Tripurā-Lakṣmī, — the fire burns…»
8bc0d508a7e3 · published Aug 7, 2026, 5:19:24 AM UTC
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The line is long, and it contains an expression worth analyzing: mūrti-bhūtām mūrti-rūpiṇīm, «become an image, having the form of an image». Mūrti means «image, statue, embodiment»; the same word names the temple image that is served. It is said twice: she became an image and has the form of an image. This repetition is not a slip but an insistence — the book presses the point that the object of contemplation has something with a visible shape.
The word mūrti-bhūta itself, «become an image», presupposes a transition: it was without form, it became with form. A form, then, is not a concession to human weakness, but an act on His part: He takes on a visible shape so that He can be seen. The difference between these two understandings is great. If the form is a concession, it is lower than the formless and falls away upon attainment; if the form is an assumption of shape for the sake of meeting, it is a mercy, and there is no reason for it to fall away — there is no step higher than the meeting itself. Worth noting too the word śritvā, «having resorted», from the same root as āśraya, «refuge»: here too, as in all these books, at the decisive point a verb of relation appears.