Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 72
॥
Devanāgarī
मध्यमं कामं सर्वावसाने संपुटीकृत्य ब्लूङ्कारेण संपुटं व्याप्तं कृत्वा द्विरैन्दवेन मध्यवर्तिना साध्यं बद्ध्वा भूर्जपत्रे यजति । तच्चक्रं यो वेत्ति स सर्वं वेत्ति । स सकला।च्ंल्लोकानाकर्षयति
Transliteration (IAST)
madhyamaṃ kāmaṃ sarvāvasāne saṃpuṭīkṛtya blūṅkāreṇa saṃpuṭaṃ vyāptaṃ kṛtvā dviraindavena madhyavartinā sādhyaṃ baddhvā bhūrjapatre yajati | taccakraṃ yo vetti sa sarvaṃ vetti | sa sakalā|cṃllokānākarṣayati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मध्यमं कामं संपुटी-कृत्यmadhyamaṃ kāmaṃ saṃpuṭī-kṛtyahaving enclosed the middle desire
भूर्ज-पत्रे यजतिbhūrja-patre yajatiworships on birch bark
तत् चक्रं यः वेत्तिtat cakraṃ yaḥ vettiwho knows that cakra
सः सर्वं वेत्तिsaḥ sarvaṃ vettihe knows everything
सः सकलान् लोकान् आकर्षयतिsaḥ sakalān lokān ākarṣayatihe attracts all worlds
Translation
«Having enclosed the middle desire… worships on birch bark. Who knows that cakra, he knows everything; he attracts all worlds».
Version
d6dfde671851 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An object appears: bhūrja-patra, «birch bark», the leaf of a birch on which the diagram is written. In the Himalayas the Himalayan birch yields a thin bark that peels off by itself and is fit for writing; the oldest surviving Indian manuscripts are written on it, and on it too, from time immemorial, yantra are written — amulets, which are then rolled up and worn on a string around the neck. This detail brings the whole book back to earth. The talk was of triangles, of nine circles, of seals and syllables — and the action turns out to be simple and domestic: a person takes a strip of bark, draws on it, and carries it on himself.
Worth noting how an amulet differs from an image that is worshipped. An amulet is worn on oneself and treated as a thing: it is supposed to work. An image is served before oneself and treated as a person: it is woken, fed, put to bed. The difference is not in the material — either can be made of anything — but in what the written thing is considered to be.
A great promise is given here again: «who knows, knows everything». Promises of this kind recur in the book, and their measure was set when reading the twenty-second line: a promise that can be fulfilled is small precisely because it is fulfilled.