Upanishads · Bhāvanā p4
॥
Devanāgarī
देहो नवरत्नद्वीपः । त्वगादिसप्तधातुभिरनेकैः संयुक्ताः सङ्कल्पाः कल्पतरवः
Transliteration (IAST)
deho navaratnadvīpaḥ | tvagādisaptadhātubhiranekaiḥ saṃyuktāḥ saṅkalpāḥ kalpataravaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
देहः नव-रत्न-द्वीपःdehaḥ nava-ratna-dvīpaḥthe body — an island of nine gems
त्वक्-आदि-सप्त-धातुभिः अनेकैःtvak-ādi-sapta-dhātubhiḥ anekaiḥwith skin and the other seven tissues, many
संयुक्ताः सङ्कल्पाः कल्प-तरवःsaṃyuktāḥ saṅkalpāḥ kalpa-taravaḥjoined thoughts — wish-fulfilling trees
Translation
The body — an island of nine gems; the many thoughts, joined with skin and the other seven tissues, are wish-fulfilling trees.
Version
185071f36253 · published Aug 6, 2026, 6:48:41 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
An equation is set: saṅkalpāḥ kalpa-taravaḥ, "thoughts are wish-fulfilling trees." Kalpa-taru is, in tradition, a tree that gives whatever one wishes; it grows in paradise, and anyone who sits beneath it and wishes receives. The comparison is witty and, considered closely, not cheerful. A thought truly is fulfilled: what a person thinks of constantly comes true sooner or later, for he himself moves toward it. And so the mind itself is the wish-tree: beneath it comes true whatever is wished beneath it — including the bad.
From this follows what these books warn of constantly, and it matters more than any diagram. What is dangerous is not that desires go unfulfilled, but that they are fulfilled; and a person receives what he asked for, together with everything that comes attached to it. Hence the Vaiṣṇava side teaches asking not for things but for service; and Caitanya's famous prayer says: "I do not want wealth, followers, a beautiful woman, or learning; let there be in me causeless devotion to You" (Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). Beneath the wish-tree, this is the one request not punished by fulfillment.