Upaniṣads · Mahā 1.3
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्य ध्यानान्तःस्थस्य ललाटात्त्र्यक्षः शूलपाणिः पुरुषो जायते
Transliteración (IAST)
tasya dhyānāntaḥsthasya lalāṭāttryakṣaḥ śūlapāṇiḥ puruṣo jāyate
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
तस्य ध्यानान्तःस्थस्यtasya dhyānāntaḥsthasyaof him, abiding in contemplation; of the one dwelling within his meditation
ललाटात् त्र्यक्षःlalāṭāt tryakṣaḥfrom the forehead — the three-eyed; out of the brow the three-eyed one
शूलपाणिः पुरुषः जायतेśūlapāṇiḥ puruṣaḥ jāyatea puruṣa with trident in hand is born; a man with a spear in his palm arises
Traducción
Of him, abiding in contemplation, from the forehead is born a three-eyed puruṣa with a trident in his hand.
Versión
5cf90528e1a1 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The birth of Śiva, and it is described in three strokes, enough to recognise him.
Tryakṣa — “three-eyed”; śūlapāṇi — “with trident in hand”. There is no name yet: it will be given at the end of the next paragraph.
And he is born lalāṭāt — “from the forehead”.
This place is a marked one in the śāstras, and disputes turn around it that should be touched on directly, for the reader will meet them anyway.
Vaiṣṇava Vedānta takes this verse as one of the grounds that Śiva is not Nārāyaṇa and not equal to Him: the born is not identical with the one who bore. The Śaiva schools read otherwise and point out that birth from the forehead is a manifestation, not an origination.
It is honest to say that the text itself here does not argue: it narrates. The verb jāyate, “is born”, stands, and there is no getting around it; but to what it refers — the appearance of a person or the appearance of a form — the book does not explain.
Note something else, apart from the dispute. The forehead, lalāṭa, is the place where these books locate concentration: between the brows. The one born from the forehead comes out of the place where contemplation is done.