Upanishads · Devī 15
॥
Devanāgarī
हृत्पुण्डरीकमध्यस्थां प्रातःसूर्यसमप्रभाम् । पाशाङ्कुशधरां सौम्यां वरदाभयहस्तकाम् । त्रिनेत्रां रक्तवसनां भक्तकामदुघां भजे
Transliteration (IAST)
hṛtpuṇḍarīkamadhyasthāṃ prātaḥsūryasamaprabhām | pāśāṅkuśadharāṃ saumyāṃ varadābhayahastakām | trinetrāṃ raktavasanāṃ bhaktakāmadughāṃ bhaje
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
हृत्-पुण्डरीक-मध्य-स्थांhṛt-puṇḍarīka-madhya-sthāṃstanding in the middle of the heart-lotus
प्रातः-सूर्य-सम-प्रभाम्prātaḥ-sūrya-sama-prabhāmequal in radiance to the morning sun
पाश-अङ्कुश-धरां सौम्यांpāśa-aṅkuśa-dharāṃ saumyāṃholding the noose and the goad, gentle
वर-द-अभय-हस्तकाम्vara-da-abhaya-hastakāmwith hands of boon-giving and fearlessness
भक्त-काम-दुघां भजेbhakta-kāma-dughāṃ bhajemilking the desires of devotees — I worship
Translation
«Standing in the middle of the heart-lotus, equal in radiance to the morning sun, holding the noose and the goad, gentle, with hands giving a boon and fearlessness, three-eyed, in red garments, milking the desires of devotees — I worship».
Version
1512de65cdcd · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
After the riddles and syllables, the book turns to the form, and this transition always comes in such compositions. Everything is named: the place (the middle of the heart-lotus), the color (like the morning sun), what is in the hands (noose, goad, boon, fearlessness), how many eyes, what color the garments.
Two of the four hands are not occupied with weapons: varadā, “giving a boon,” and abhaya, “fearlessness.” The second is a palm turned toward the viewer — a sign intelligible without explanation in any language: “fear not.” In sculpture it is older than the tantras themselves and is found everywhere.
Worth examining is the phrase bhakta-kāma-dughā, “milking the desires of devotees.” Dughā is from duh, “to milk”; the same root is in dhenu, “milk-cow,” by which Speech was named in the fifth line. The image, then, is domestic: the devotee's desires are not fulfilled by decree, but are milked, like milk — little by little, and steadily.
The last word of the line is bhaje, “I worship, I serve, I share.” This is the very verb bhaj, from which comes bhakti, discussed examining the Parabrahma (5). It means “to divide, to allot, to have a share”; and the whole line ends, then, not with “I contemplate” and not with “I comprehend,” but — “I have a portion with her.”
This is what deserves attention in books of this kind. A teaching may set forth whatever it likes; but the verb with which the author ends his description reveals what he truly wants.