Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 2.13
॥
Devanāgarī
एकादशमुखं त्वक्षं रुद्रैकादशदैवतम् । तदिदं दैवतं प्राहुः सदा सौभाग्यवर्धनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
ekādaśamukhaṃ tvakṣaṃ rudraikādaśadaivatam | tadidaṃ daivataṃ prāhuḥ sadā saubhāgyavardhanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एकादश-मुखं तु अक्षंekādaśa-mukhaṃ tu akṣaṃbut the eleven-faced seed
रुद्र-एकादश-दैवतम्rudra-ekādaśa-daivatamhas the eleven Rudras as deity
तत् इदं दैवतं प्राहुःtat idaṃ daivataṃ prāhuḥthis deity they call
सदा सौभाग्य-वर्धनम्sadā saubhāgya-vardhanamever increasing good fortune
Translation
The eleven-faced seed has the eleven Rudras as deity; this deity, they say, ever increases good fortune.
Version
9c51c1b322cb · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Ekādaśa-rudra, "the eleven Rudras," is an ancient Vedic reckoning: the eleven Rudras, together with the eight Vasus and the twelve Ādityas, make up the thirty-three deities of whom the Ṛgveda speaks. It is worth noting that the book uses this count without explanation, as something known to all — a mark of the antiquity of the list itself, not of its compiler. Saubhāgya-vardhana, "the increase of good fortune," is promised. Saubhāgya, from bhaga, "share, portion"; literally "good-portion-ness," that is, a good share. In common use the word means good luck in general, and, applied to a woman, married well-being.
The notion of a portion deserves examining, for it lies at the foundation of this whole kind of promise. A portion is what is allotted to a person; and to increase it means to beg an addition beyond what is allotted. From this the whole structure of such piety follows. It does not ask by what it is allotted or by what reckoning, but seeks a means to get around the reckoning.
The Vaiṣṇava side reasons about a portion differently, and differently exactly at this point. It accepts that a portion is allotted by the deeds of past lives, and does not advise fussing over increasing it: the Bhāgavatam says that sukham aindriyakam — sensory contentment — "comes of itself, as misfortune comes unasked" (1.5.18). The conclusion drawn from this is unexpected and practical. Since the portion will come by itself, fussing over it is a waste of the one thing no one has allotted in advance: attention and time. Fuss over what is not allotted, this verse says, and the allotted will come without you.