Upanishads · Tārasāra 1.2
॥
Devanāgarī
इदं वै कुरुक्षेत्रं देवानां देवयजनं सर्वेषां भूतानां ब्रह्मसदनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
idaṃ vai kurukṣetraṃ devānāṃ devayajanaṃ sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ brahmasadanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
इदं वै कुरुक्षेत्रं देवानांidaṃ vai kurukṣetraṃ devānāṃthis indeed is the Kurukṣetra of the gods
देव-यजनं सर्वेषां भूतानांdeva-yajanaṃ sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃthe sacrificial ground of the gods, of all beings
ब्रह्म-सदनम्brahma-sadanamthe abode of brahman
Translation
«This indeed is the Kurukṣetra, the sacrificial ground of the gods, the abode of brahman for all beings».
Version
a6c5c7427b5d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A repetition of what was said, and in it the word idam, "this," deserves noting. A demonstrative pronoun: not "that," but "this, right here." That is, the speaker points to the place where he stands.
A grammatical detail, but not an empty one: it turns an abstract statement into a pointing gesture. It is one thing to say "every place is holy"; another to point a finger and say "right here." It is worth examining also the phrases brahma-sadana, "abode of brahman," and deva-yajana, "sacrificial ground of the gods."
The second means that here the gods offer sacrifice, rather than sacrifice being offered to them. This phrase occurs in Vedic books and denotes the highest sanctity: a place where the gods themselves sacrifice is higher than a place where sacrifice is offered to them. The Vaiṣṇava side speaks of a holy place in the same terms, but adds what for it is decisive. A place is holy not in itself and not because sacrifice is offered there, but because something happened and is happening there: He was there, He played there, He appeared there.
Hence its places are places of memory, as was discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (4.49). The two understandings can be joined, and the book itself leads toward this. Any place can become holy — but it becomes so not by proclamation, but when people begin to live there as one lives in a holy place. One does not arrive at holiness; one establishes it.