Upanishads · Tripurā 3
॥
Devanāgarī
एका सा आसीत् प्रथमा सा नवासीदासोनविंशादासोनत्रिंशत् । चत्वारिंशादथ तिस्रः समिधा उशतीरिव मातरो मा विशन्तु
Transliteration (IAST)
ekā sā āsīt prathamā sā navāsīdāsonaviṃśādāsonatriṃśat | catvāriṃśādatha tisraḥ samidhā uśatīriva mātaro mā viśantu
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एका सा आसीत् प्रथमाekā sā āsīt prathamāone she was, first
सा नव आसीत्sā nava āsītshe became nine
आ ऊन-विंशात् आ ऊन-त्रिंशत्ā ūna-viṃśāt ā ūna-triṃśatto nineteen, to twenty-nine
चत्वारिंशात् अथ तिस्रःcatvāriṃśāt atha tisraḥto forty and three more
समिधः उशतीः इवsamidhaḥ uśatīḥ ivalike logs, like thirsting
मातरः मा विशन्तुmātaraḥ mā viśantumothers, may they enter into me
Translation
«One she was, first; she became nine; to nineteen, to twenty-nine, to forty and three more. Like logs, like thirsting mothers, may they enter into me».
Version
24a16b27a75d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse counts: one, nine, nineteen, twenty-nine, forty-three. This is the count of the triangles of the śrī-cakra — from the central point out to the forty-three small ones, spoken of reading Tripurātāpinī (49).
The count moves from one to many, not the reverse; and this is worth dwelling on, for the direction is no accident. The book does not reduce multiplicity to the one, but traces how the one becomes many — and calls this her own act: sā nava āsīt, “she became nine.”
The verb as, “to be,” is put in the past tense together with a numeral: she was one, she was nine. That is, plurality is not a foreign delusion that has descended upon unity, but that which she herself became.
The Vaiṣṇava side reads such passages exactly this way, and the difference with Advaita is nowhere clearer than here. There, multiplicity is an error of vision to be removed; here it is the deed of the one itself, and there is nothing to remove — one must understand for whose sake it was done.
The last line of the verse is especially fine: samidhaḥ uśatīḥ iva mātaraḥ mā viśantu, “like logs, like thirsting mothers, may they enter into me.” Samidh is a log placed into the fire; uśatī — “desiring, thirsting.” The prayer, then, is not to enter them, but that they enter the one who prays; and they must enter as a mother enters to her child — because she herself wishes it.