Upanishads · Devī 21
॥
Devanāgarī
दशवारं पठेद्यस्तु सद्यः पापैः प्रमुच्यते । महादुर्गाणि तरति महादेव्याः प्रसादतः
Transliteration (IAST)
daśavāraṃ paṭhedyastu sadyaḥ pāpaiḥ pramucyate | mahādurgāṇi tarati mahādevyāḥ prasādataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
दश-वारं पठेत् यः तुdaśa-vāraṃ paṭhet yaḥ tuwhoever reads it ten times
सद्यः पापैः प्रमुच्यतेsadyaḥ pāpaiḥ pramucyateis at once released from sins
महा-दुर्गाणि तरतिmahā-durgāṇi taraticrosses great calamities
महा-देव्याः प्रसादतःmahā-devyāḥ prasādataḥby the grace of the great Goddess
Translation
«Whoever reads it ten times is at once released from sins; he crosses great calamities — by the grace of the great Goddess».
Version
5335cf23fa3a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
In this line stand two words worth noting, and the second corrects the first.
The first is sadyaḥ, “at once”: read it ten times, and sins are removed immediately. This promise is common in fruit-lists, and cheap to the ear.
The second is prasādataḥ, “by grace.” And this changes everything.
If sins are removed by grace, then it is not the reading that removes them: the reading is the occasion, and the one who grants mercy decides. Grace, by the very meaning of the word, is never earned: what is earned is called payment, not grace; and the count (“ten times”) here is a measure of diligence, not a price.
This distinction is worked out most fully in Vaiṣṇava literature, and there it is put this way. The fruit of an act comes by law, in its own time; the fruit of an appeal comes by the will of the one appealed to — and hence it may come sooner than due, or in a measure other than expected. The first arrangement is impersonal; the second presupposes a person; and whenever the word “grace” appears in a text, the second is implied.
Worth noting is that in this book, across twenty-one lines, the word prasāda appears for the first time here — and appears precisely where the removal of sin is at issue. This is usually how it goes: as long as the talk is of knowledge and power, grace is not mentioned; it is remembered once the matter comes to guilt.