Upanishads · Varāha 5.29
॥
Devanāgarī
पटमध्यं तु यत्स्थानं नाभिचक्रं तदुच्यते । नादाधारा समाख्याता ज्वलन्ती नादरूपिणी
Transliteration (IAST)
paṭamadhyaṃ tu yatsthānaṃ nābhicakraṃ taducyate | nādādhārā samākhyātā jvalantī nādarūpiṇī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पट-मध्यं तु यत् स्थानंpaṭa-madhyaṃ tu yat sthānaṃthe place that is the middle of the cloth
नाभि-चक्रं तत् उच्यतेnābhi-cakraṃ tat ucyateis called the navel-circle
नाद-आधारा समाख्याताnāda-ādhārā samākhyātāit is called the support of resonance
ज्वलन्ती नाद-रूपिणीjvalantī nāda-rūpiṇīblazing, having the form of resonance
Translation
"The place that is the middle of the cloth is called the navel-circle; it is called the support of resonance, blazing, having the form of resonance."
Version
6a2cb427a28a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The center is named — nabhi-chakra, "the navel-circle"; and it is said to be nada-adhara, "the support of resonance." That is, the inner resonance, to which the end of the chapter will be devoted, is referred to this place. Worth noting is that the middle is named by the navel.
The choice is natural: the navel is the middle of the body and, moreover, a trace of a former connection; every person was joined through it. This detail has its own correspondence in Vaishnava literature, worth citing, for it is famous. From the navel of Vishnu, reclining on the waters, grows a lotus, and from the lotus Brahma is born; and creation begins with this, discussed when reading the Panchabrahma (12).
That is, there too the middle is the navel, and from it issues the world. Let us add what deserves holding onto in this image. The lotus does not grow by itself: it grows on a stem, and the stem goes down, to the One who lies there.
Brahma, born on the lotus, as the Bhagavatam recounts (3.8), at first does not know where he is from; he descends the stem, searches — and does not find; and only when he abandons the search and sits down in concentration does he hear and see. This story, by its reckoning, is a parable of every search: one does not arrive by going down the stem; one arrives when one stops going and starts listening.