सत्यक्षेत्रे ब्रह्मा नारायणं महासाम्राज्यं किं तारकं तन्नो ब्रूहि भगवन्नित्युक्तः सत्यानन्द सात्त्विकं मामकं धामोपास्वेत्याह । सदा दत्तोऽहमस्मीति प्रत्येतत्संवदन्ति येन ते संसारिणो भवन्ति नारायणेनैवं विवक्षितो ब्रह्मा विश्वरूपधरं विष्णुं नारायणं दत्तात्रेयं ध्यात्वा सद्वदति
satyakṣetre brahmā nārāyaṇaṃ mahāsāmrājyaṃ kiṃ tārakaṃ tanno brūhi bhagavannityuktaḥ satyānanda sāttvikaṃ māmakaṃ dhāmopāsvetyāha | sadā datto'hamasmīti pratyetatsaṃvadanti yena te saṃsāriṇo bhavanti nārāyaṇenaivaṃ vivakṣito brahmā viśvarūpadharaṃ viṣṇuṃ nārāyaṇaṃ dattātreyaṃ dhyātvā sadvadati
«On the field of truth Brahmā [asked] Nārāyaṇa: "what is the great sovereignty, the carrying-across? that tell us, O lord." Thus asked, [Nārāyaṇa] said: "O truly-blissful one, worship my clear abode." "I am the eternally given" — by this, in agreement, they profess that by which they become bound to the round of rebirth. Thus instructed by Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā, contemplating Viṣṇu bearing the universal form, Nārāyaṇa, Dattātreya, speaks the truth».
dac320dedb3c · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The Dattātreya Upaniṣad begins, and it is worth first saying who Dattātreya is. His name means “given to Atri,” from datta, “given,” and ātreya, “son of Atri.” The story runs thus: the ascetic Atri and his wife Anasūyā asked for a son; and the Trimūrti — Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva — appeared and gave themselves as sons.
Hence Dattātreya is depicted three-headed, and is honored by both Vaiṣṇavas and Śaivas; in this collection he is counted in the Vaiṣṇava category, and the book itself calls him Viṣṇu and Nārāyaṇa. He is the archetype of the avadhūta, “the one who has shaken off,” a wanderer without a code; and in the Bhāgavatam (11.7–9) he tells King Yadu of twenty-four teachers he took for himself from nature: the earth, the wind, a bee, a python, a child, a maiden with bangles. This story is celebrated in Vaiṣṇava usage and is worth remembering while reading this book.
Note, too, what is said in this first passage about the round of rebirth. It says sadā datto'ham asmi iti, “I am eternally given”; and by this, it says, people “in agreement profess that by which they become bound to the round.” The passage is obscure; but the reading, to my mind, is this: as long as a person says “I am given,” that is, considers himself the one to whom something is given, he is in the round; and this reverses when he understands that it is not the world that is given to him, but he who is given to It.
Add, too, the words satya-kṣetre, “on the field of truth”: the conversation is set neither in time nor in place, but in the domain of truth; and this, to my mind, is a beautiful way of saying that this discourse stands outside narrative.