Upanishads · Bhāvanā p48
॥
Devanāgarī
कादिहादिमतोक्तेन भावना प्रतिपादिता । जीवन्मुक्तो भवति । य एवं वेद । इत्युपनिषत्
Transliteration (IAST)
kādihādimatoktena bhāvanā pratipāditā | jīvanmukto bhavati | ya evaṃ veda | ityupaniṣat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कादि-हादि-मत-उक्तेनkādi-hādi-mata-uktenaaccording to the teaching beginning with "ka" and with "ha"
भावना प्रतिपादिताbhāvanā pratipāditāthe representation is set forth
जीवन्-मुक्तः भवतिjīvan-muktaḥ bhavatione becomes liberated while living
यः एवं वेद इति उपनिषत्yaḥ evaṃ veda iti upaniṣatwho thus knows — such is the upaniṣad
Translation
According to the teaching beginning with "ka" and with "ha," the representation is set forth. One becomes liberated while living. Who thus knows — such is the upaniṣad.
Version
f5f8a4ed9a38 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The book ends with a reference to two traditions: kādi-mata, "the teaching beginning with 'ka'," and hādi-mata, "beginning with 'ha'." These are the two branches of śrī-vidyā, distinguished by the first syllable of the mantra; the first traces back to Manmatha, the second to Lopāmudrā, discussed when reading the Tripurā-tāpanī (24, 26). Let us look back over the whole book, for it is small and distinctive.
Everything in it is an inventory of correspondences: nine apertures — nine circles; fourteen channels — fourteen spokes; ten breaths — ten deities; sixteen services to a guest — sixteen inner states. The design is one and is carried through to the end: everything that is in the rite exists within the person, and so the rite need not be performed. What is true in this is worth acknowledging. A person is indeed built complexly, and any structure can be likened to any other. There are more than a few real observations here: the mind as a bow, and the objects of sense as arrows (p22); attraction as a noose, and aversion as a goad (p23); will, knowledge, and action as the three supports of every deed (p6); faith, by which a person also gets his deity (p26).
What it lacks is also worth naming, and this is not a reproach but a difference. There is no one else in it. Everything is turned upon oneself: one invokes one's own readiness, bows to one's own state, offers one's own attention; and the goal is named directly — the unity of deity and self (p46).
And here is the final word about this book. The rite it reinterprets was arranged as the reception of a guest: to seat him, wash his feet, dress him, feed him, show him the lamp, see him off with a bow. The reinterpretation kept the order and removed the guest.
Reading it, it is worth remembering what it was before the reinterpretation; and if, after all these diagrams, someone should wish simply to offer a flower and bow, this would not be a departure from the book, but a return to what it was written about.