Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 86
॥
Devanāgarī
संलग्नत्वादुर्वारुकमिव मृत्योः संसारबन्धनात्संलग्नत्वाद्बद्धत्वान्मोक्षीभवति मुक्तो भवति । अथ कस्मादुच्यते मामृतादिति अमृतत्वं प्राप्नोत्यक्षरं प्राप्नोति स्वयं रुद्रो भवति
Transliteration (IAST)
saṃlagnatvādurvārukamiva mṛtyoḥ saṃsārabandhanātsaṃlagnatvādbaddhatvānmokṣībhavati mukto bhavati | atha kasmāducyate māmṛtāditi amṛtatvaṃ prāpnotyakṣaraṃ prāpnoti svayaṃ rudro bhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
संलग्न-त्वात् उर्वारुकम् इवsaṃlagna-tvāt urvārukam ivaby attachment, as a cucumber
मृत्योः संसार-बन्धनात्mṛtyoḥ saṃsāra-bandhanātfrom death, from the bonds of the cycle
बद्ध-त्वात् मोक्षी भवतिbaddha-tvāt mokṣī bhavatiby being bound, becomes released
अथ कस्मात् उच्यतेatha kasmāt ucyatenow why is it said
मा अ-मृतात् इतिmā a-mṛtāt iti«not from immortality»?
स्वयं रुद्रः भवतिsvayaṃ rudraḥ bhavatihe himself becomes Rudra
Translation
«By attachment — «as a cucumber»; from death, from the bonds of the cycle, by attachment, by being bound, becomes released, becomes liberated. Now why is it said «not from immortality»? He attains immortality, he attains the Imperishable, he himself becomes Rudra».
Version
656ec7c801aa · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The explanation of the cucumber is given in one word: samlagna-tvāt, «by attachment». Lagna means «attached, stuck, caught fast»; and it is said that a person holds to the cycle just as a cucumber holds to its stalk. The explanation is precise and unhappy. It does not say a person is held — it says he has stuck; and this bond is not imposed from outside, but formed by itself, as everything that grows in from long contact does.
The second word, baddha-tvāt, «by being bound», completes the thought: one who is bound is one who can be released — and so it is exactly the bond that makes him capable of release. This argument was discussed when reading Avadhūta (31): being liberated exists only for one who is bound. Here it is repeated in almost the same words and, more importantly, repeated in a book of a different direction — that is, this argument is not sectarian, but general.
The line's last promise — svayaṃ rudro bhavati, «he himself becomes Rudra» — is exactly what is disputed with advaita, and it is worth saying just what the disagreement is. The turn «becomes Rudra» has occurred in these books more than once, and every time it means entering a state, not turning into a person. No one understands this to mean that the worshipper will become the very Rudra who sits on Kailāsa with a trident; it is understood that he will obtain His qualities and His freedom. And the qualities of another can only be obtained while remaining other: what has become indistinguishable has obtained nothing.