Upanishads · Varāha 2.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ऋभुर्नाम महायोगी क्रोडरूपं रमापतिम् । वरिष्ठां ब्रह्मविद्यां त्वमधीहि भगवन्मम । एवं स स्पृष्टो भगवान्प्राह भक्तार्तिभञ्जनः
Transliteration (IAST)
ṛbhurnāma mahāyogī kroḍarūpaṃ ramāpatim | variṣṭhāṃ brahmavidyāṃ tvamadhīhi bhagavanmama | evaṃ sa spṛṣṭo bhagavānprāha bhaktārtibhañjanaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ऋभुः नाम महा-योगीṛbhuḥ nāma mahā-yogīRibhu by name, the great yogi
क्रोड-रूपं रमा-पतिम्kroḍa-rūpaṃ ramā-patim[said] to the boar-formed, husband of Rama
वरिष्ठां ब्रह्म-विद्यांvariṣṭhāṃ brahma-vidyāṃ'the very best knowledge of brahman'
त्वम् अधीहि भगवन् ममtvam adhīhi bhagavan mama'teach me, Lord'
भक्त-आर्ति-भञ्जनःbhakta-ārti-bhañjanaḥ'O breaker of the devotees' anguish'
Translation
"Ribhu, the great yogi, [said] to the boar-formed husband of Rama: 'Teach me, Lord, the very best knowledge of brahman.' Thus asked, the Lord, breaker of the devotees' anguish, said…"
Version
8ce3aac19fb3 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second chapter begins with a new address, and two names given to the one who answers deserve noting. Rama-pati, "husband of Rama," that is, of Lakshmi; and bhakta-arti-bhanjana, "breaker of the devotees' anguish." The first deserves noting, for it places the boar directly in the Vaishnava line: the boar is the husband of the goddess of fortune, that is, Vishnu.
The second is more curious. Arti means "torment, anguish, misfortune"; bhanjana — "breaking, shattering." That is, the one answering the question about knowledge of brahman is called a comforter.
This combination is, in my view, the chief distinguishing feature of the Vaishnava reading of all such books, and deserves stating. Knowledge of brahman is ordinarily taught by the knowing one; here it is taught by the comforting one. And hence everything that follows about principles and the self turns out to be spoken not from a lectern, but at a bedside.
Let us add what follows from this for evaluating the whole chapter. It will be, in much of its language, nondualist, and we shall note this; but it is spoken by the one the book itself has called the breaker of anguish — and anguish belongs to someone and is broken by someone. Worth noting too is the word varishtha, "the very best," applied to the knowledge: what is asked is not knowledge in general, but the highest of knowledges; and the question is put as in the first chapter — about that which explains His form.