Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 85
॥
Devanāgarī
यत्सर्वांल्लोकान्सृजति यत्सर्वांल्लोकांस्तारयति यत्सर्वांल्लोकान्व्याप्नोति तस्मादुच्यते पुष्टिवर्धनमिति । अथ कस्मादुच्यते उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीयेति
Transliteration (IAST)
yatsarvāṃllokānsṛjati yatsarvāṃllokāṃstārayati yatsarvāṃllokānvyāpnoti tasmāducyate puṣṭivardhanamiti | atha kasmāducyate urvārukamiva bandhanānmṛtyormukṣīyeti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत् सर्वान् लोकान् सृजतिyat sarvān lokān sṛjatiwho creates all worlds
यत् सर्वान् लोकान् तारयतिyat sarvān lokān tārayatiwho carries all worlds across
यत् सर्वान् लोकान् व्याप्नोतिyat sarvān lokān vyāpnotiwho pervades all worlds
तस्मात् उच्यते पुष्टि-वर्धनम्tasmāt ucyate puṣṭi-vardhanamhence «increasing strength» is said
उर्वारुकम् इव बन्धनात्urvārukam iva bandhanātas a cucumber from its stalk
Translation
«Who creates all worlds, who carries all worlds across, who pervades all worlds — hence «increasing strength» is said. — Now why is it said «as a cucumber from its stalk — may I be released from death»?»
Version
8787228da1bf · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Three verbs stand side by side, and their order deserves attention: sṛjati, «creates»; tārayati, «carries across»; vyāpnoti, «pervades». The second of these — tārayati — is a causative of tṝ, «to cross over»: not «crosses», but «carries others across». The same root is in the word tīrtha, «ford, holy place», and in the name Tāraka, by which the mantra that carries one across death is called.
To place crossing-over beside creation is to say something definite. A creator who has merely created leaves the created to itself; a creator who carries across continues to be involved. The first is needed once; the second, all the time.
The Vaishnava understanding of God holds to the second and is nearly indifferent to the first. That the world was made by someone is acknowledged by many, and with little benefit to themselves; but that the One who made it is even now occupied with carrying across is an altogether different assertion, and one must live differently once one holds it. Let us add the word puṣṭi-vardhana, «increasing strength», which all this explains. Not «strong», but increasing strength in another; and this too is a transitive action, directed outward. All three verbs of this line are transitive, and all three are about what is done to someone, not about what He Himself is like.