Upanishads · Gaṇapati 13.2
॥
Devanāgarī
यो मोदकसहस्रेण यजति स वाञ्छितफलमवाप्नोति । यः साज्य समिद्भिर्यजति । स सर्वं लभते स सर्वं लभते
Transliteration (IAST)
yo modakasahasreṇa yajati sa vāñchitaphalamavāpnoti | yaḥ sājya samidbhiryajati | sa sarvaṃ labhate sa sarvaṃ labhate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यः मोदक-सहस्रेण यजतिyaḥ modaka-sahasreṇa yajatiwhoever sacrifices with a thousand modakas
सः वाञ्छित-फलम् अवाप्नोतिsaḥ vāñchita-phalam avāpnotiobtains the desired fruit
यः स-आज्य समिद्भिः यजतिyaḥ sa-ājya samidbhiḥ yajatiwhoever sacrifices with fuel-sticks and ghee
सः सर्वं लभतेsaḥ sarvaṃ labhateobtains everything
Translation
Whoever sacrifices with a thousand modakas obtains the desired fruit; whoever sacrifices with fuel-sticks and ghee obtains everything, obtains everything.
Version
552455096721 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Modaka is a sweet dumpling filled with coconut and sugar — to this day the chief treat of the Gaṇeśa festival; and they are offered by the thousand. It is worth comparing this with the previous line, for together they form a complete picture. There it was grass and a handful of grain; here, a thousand dumplings and firewood with clarified butter. That is, the list runs from the cheapest to the costly, rejecting no one on either side.
This arrangement, to my mind, is more honest than either extreme solution. One extreme is to demand the costly, leaving the poor nothing to do. The other is to declare the costly superfluous, leaving the rich nothing to do but feel ashamed.
Here it is simply said: offer what you have. The Vaiṣṇava side holds to the very same thing and, in its practice, joins both ends without any difficulty. In its temples both lavish meals of dozens of dishes and a glass of water are offered; and its rule is that one should offer the best of what one has — a measure that means something different for different people, and the same thing for each.
It is worth noting also the repetition: sa sarvaṃ labhate sa sarvaṃ labhate, "he obtains everything" — twice. Doubling at the end of a section is a mark of closure found in every upaniṣad; that is how the full stop is set. As for the modakas, it is curious that even in this most respectable list of offerings, first place among this deity's belongs to something sweet. It is hard to ascribe severity to a God to whom dumplings are brought; and his whole cult — festive, noisy, with drums and the immersion of the image in the river — answers to this entirely.