Upaniṣads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 1.12
॥
Devanāgarī
क्रियाकर्मेज्यकर्तॄणामर्थं मन्त्रो वदत्यथ । मननान्त्राणनान्मन्त्रः सर्ववाच्यस्य वाचकः
Transliteración (IAST)
kriyākarmejyakartṝṇāmarthaṃ mantro vadatyatha | mananāntrāṇanānmantraḥ sarvavācyasya vācakaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
क्रियाकर्मेज्यकर्तॄणाम्kriyākarmejyakartṝṇāmfor the performers of rite, act and offering; for the doers of action and sacrifice
अर्थम् मन्त्रः वदति अथartham mantraḥ vadati athathe mantra utters the meaning; the mantra declares the object
मननात् त्राणनात् मन्त्रःmananāt trāṇanāt mantraḥfrom “manana” and “trāṇa” — mantra; from pondering and protection — mantra
सर्ववाच्यस्य वाचकःsarvavācyasya vācakaḥthe signifier of all that can be signified; pointing to all that can be named
Traducción
To the performers of rite, act and offering the mantra utters their meaning. From “manana” — pondering — and “trāṇa” — protection — it is called mantra, the signifier of all that can be signified.
Versión
75ba09697b50 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 5:15:19 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The parsing of the word “mantra” by roots, and this parsing is classic in the śāstras: mananāt trāṇanāt — “from pondering and from protection”.
Manana is from the root man, “to think”: a mantra is what is pondered. Trāṇa is from tṝ, “to save, to guard”: it is what protects. The joining of the two roots yields the definition: a mantra is the pondered thing that guards the ponderer.
In this lies the difference between a mantra and any other word. Words convey; a mantra shelters the one who holds it in mind. Hence the previous verse's requirement — to repeat — is no drudgery: a mantra not repeated simply does not do its work.
The first half of the verse adds something practical to this. To the performers of the rite the mantra “utters the meaning” of their acts. That is, a rite without a mantra is mute: the motions are there, but what they mean is unknown. The word gives the deed its object.
And the last definition is the widest: sarva-vācyasya vācakaḥ — “the signifier of all that can be signified”. The mantra is named not one of the names, but that which stands behind all naming.
Note that we have met this thought twice already. In the Gopāla-tāpanī the world unfolded out of the syllables of the mantra; in the Subāla the Vedas were called the out-breath of the Great Being. Here the same position is given as a definition.