उपनिषद् · Śvetāśvatara 3.2
॥
देवनागरी
एको हि रुद्रो न द्वितीयाय तस्थे य इमांल् लोकान् ईशत ईशनीभिः ।
प्रत्यङ् जनास् तिष्ठति संचुकोचान्तकाले संसृज्य विश्वा भुवनानि गोपाः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
eko hi rudro na dvitīyāya tasthe ya imāṃl lokān īśata īśanībhiḥ /
pratyaṅ janās tiṣṭhati saṃcukocāntakāle saṃsṛjya viśvā bhuvanāni gopāḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
एकः हि रुद्रःekaḥ hi rudraḥfor Rudra is one; truly Rudra is single
न द्वितीयाय तस्थेna dvitīyāya tastheHe did not stand for a second; He allowed no second beside Him
यः इमान् लोकान्yaḥ imān lokānwho these worlds; He who over these worlds
ईशते ईशनीभिःīśate īśanībhiḥrules by His own powers; holds sway by His powers
प्रत्यङ् जनाः तिष्ठतिpratyaṅ janāḥ tiṣṭhatiHe stands facing men; He is turned toward creatures
संचुकोचsaṃcukocaHe draws them in; He gathers them back
अन्तकालेantakāleat the end of time; at the world's ending
संसृज्यsaṃsṛjyahaving created; having brought forth from Himself
विश्वा भुवनानिviśvā bhuvanāniall the worlds; every inhabited universe
गोपाःgopāḥthe Herdsman; the keeper of the flock
अनुवाद
For Rudra is one: He left no room for a second — He who rules these worlds by His own powers. Turned toward creatures, He, the Herdsman, having created all the worlds, draws them in at the end of time.
संस्करण
849844cd5653 · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:13:46 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The mantra states the singularity of the Lord sharply and without qualification: na dvitīyāya tasthe — literally "He did not stand for a second", that is, He left no room beside Himself for an equal. Everything called a god stands lower.
Here the name Rudra sounds for the first time in this Upaniṣad, and an old dispute attaches to it. The Śvetāśvatara calls its God Rudra, Śiva, Hara, Īśāna; Śaivas see in this their own book, while the Vaiṣṇava tradition reads these names by their sense — as epithets of the Highest, applicable to Him and afterwards current as proper names. The dispute is settled not by force but by reading: in this Upaniṣad God is the one who begets Hiraṇyagarbha (3.4), stands above all the gods (6.7) and holds the net of māyā; in other words, this is the supreme Deity, in whom each school recognises its own.
Remarkable is the mantra's last word: gopāḥ, "herdsman", keeper of the flock. It is set beside the formidable "draws the worlds in at the end of time", and the juxtaposition is not accidental: the one who folds up universes is called not a destroyer but a cowherd penning the flock for the night. To a Vaiṣṇava ear the word says still more — but even in the plain sense it already overturns the picture: the end of the world is described as an act of care, not of wrath.
And once again it is repeated, pratyaṅ janāḥ tiṣṭhati, "He stands facing men" — the very thing said at 2.16. He does not have His back to creation.