Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 95
॥
Devanāgarī
स व्योम्नि परमे धामनि सौरे निवसते । गणानां त्वति त्रैष्टुभेन पूर्वेणाध्वना मनुनैकार्णेन गणाधिपमभ्यर्च्य गणेशत्वं प्राप्नोति । अथ गायत्री सावित्री सरस्वत्यजपा मातृका प्रोक्ता तया सर्वमिदं व्याप्तम्
Transliteration (IAST)
sa vyomni parame dhāmani saure nivasate | gaṇānāṃ tvati traiṣṭubhena pūrveṇādhvanā manunaikārṇena gaṇādhipamabhyarcya gaṇeśatvaṃ prāpnoti | atha gāyatrī sāvitrī sarasvatyajapā mātṛkā proktā tayā sarvamidaṃ vyāptam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सः व्योम्नि परमे धामनिsaḥ vyomni parame dhāmanihe, in the highest abode
सौरे निवसतेsaure nivasatedwells in the solar
गण-अधिपम् अभ्यर्च्यgaṇa-adhipam abhyarcyahaving honored the lord of the hosts
गणेश-त्वं प्राप्नोतिgaṇeśa-tvaṃ prāpnotiattains the state of Gaṇeśa
अथ गायत्री सावित्री सरस्वतीatha gāyatrī sāvitrī sarasvatīthen Gāyatrī, Sāvitrī, Sarasvatī
अजपा मातृका प्रोक्ताajapā mātṛkā proktāthe unrepeated, the mātṛkā, is proclaimed
Translation
«He dwells in the highest solar abode. …Having honored the lord of the hosts, he attains the state of Gaṇeśa. Then: Gāyatrī, Sāvitrī, Sarasvatī, the unrepeated, the mātṛkā — so it is named; by her all this is pervaded».
Version
f17e9891cd68 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The word ajapā, «unrepeated», is named, and it is worth pausing on it, for this concept is among the most subtle in Indian books. The ajapā-gāyatrī is a counting of the breath: it is held that the in-breath sounds as saḥ and the out-breath as ham, and that a person, without knowing it, utters haṃsa twenty-one thousand six hundred times a day. This mantra is called «unrepeated» precisely because it need not be repeated: it proceeds by itself, as long as a person breathes.
The thought here is profound, and deserves being stated. An ordinary mantra requires effort and so is interrupted: a person tires, is distracted, falls asleep. But this one is never interrupted, for it coincides with what happens regardless; and the whole labor consists not in uttering it, but in noticing that it is being uttered.
From this it is also clear how such an understanding differs from Vaishnava remembrance, and the difference is not small. Breath proceeds without me and without my consent; the name that is called out, however, is uttered by me and so is my own act. The first I can only discover; the second I must perform.
The Bhāgavatam says the Name works even uttered by chance — Ajāmila cried out his son's name and was saved (6.2). But there too the name was spoken by the mouth, not found in breath; and the difference between «it sounds within me» and «I have called Him» is, in essence, the difference between observation and address.