Upanishads · Bhāvanā p1
॥
Devanāgarī
आत्मानमखण्डमण्डलाकारमवृत्य सकलब्रह्माण्डमण्डलं स्वप्रकाशं ध्यायेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
ātmānamakhaṇḍamaṇḍalākāramavṛtya sakalabrahmāṇḍamaṇḍalaṃ svaprakāśaṃ dhyāyet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आत्मानम् अ-खण्ड-मण्डल-आकारम्ātmānam a-khaṇḍa-maṇḍala-ākāramthe self, having the shape of an undivided circle
आवृत्य सकल-ब्रह्म-अण्ड-मण्डलंāvṛtya sakala-brahma-aṇḍa-maṇḍalaṃencompassing the whole circle of the cosmos
स्व-प्रकाशं ध्यायेत्sva-prakāśaṃ dhyāyetself-luminous, let him contemplate
Translation
Let him contemplate the self, having the shape of an undivided circle, encompassing the whole circle of the cosmos, self-luminous.
Version
2b6cb403823e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The book opens with an instruction to contemplate; and it is worth saying at once what kind of book it is, for among the upaniṣads it is peculiarly built. Bhāvanā means "representation, imagination, bringing to presence" — from bhū, "to be," in the causative sense: "to make exist." This whole small book is an inventory of correspondences: it takes the constitution of a person — body, senses, breaths, passions — and maps it onto the structure of the śrī-cakra, discussed in detail when reading the Tripurā-tāpanī (46–59).
That is, before us is not a teaching but a table. Line after line: this is that, and that is this. At first it reads like raving, and is understood simply: a diagram transposed onto a person.
This design is worth appreciating before objecting to it. Behind it stands the thought that a person need build nothing outside, for he himself is the diagram; and so a rite that required a temple, a diagram, implements, and priests is reduced to concentration. The Vaiṣṇava side does not object to this move and does something similar herself: mānasa-pūjā, "mental worship," is described by her in detail, and Rūpa Gosvāmī says directly that even one with nothing in hand can serve in the mind. The difference that will show itself further on is only this: there, in the mind, one offers to Someone; here, to oneself, for, as the book will say below, the worshiped and the worshiper are declared one.