उपनिषद् · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 29
॥
देवनागरी
स होवाच तां ह वै—
एको ह पूर्वं नारायणो देवः यस्मिन् लोका ओताश्च प्रोताश्च ।
तस्य हृत्पद्माज्जातोऽब्जयोनिः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
sa hovāca tāṁ ha vai—
eko ha pūrvaṁ nārāyaṇo devaḥ yasmin lokā otāśca protāśca |
tasya hṛtpadmājjāto'bjayoniḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
सः ह उवाचsaḥ ha uvācaand he said; then he spoke
ताम् ह वैtām ha vaito her; to her precisely
एकः ह पूर्वम्ekaḥ ha pūrvamone was in the beginning; at the first there was one
नारायणः देवःnārāyaṇaḥ devaḥthe God Nārāyaṇa; the Deity Nārāyaṇa
यस्मिन् लोकाःyasmin lokāḥin whom the worlds; in whom the universes
ओताः च प्रोताः चotāḥ ca protāḥ caare woven warp and woof; are threaded lengthwise and across
तस्य हृत्पद्मात्tasya hṛtpadmātfrom the lotus of his heart; from the lotus of his heart
जातः अब्जयोनिःjātaḥ abjayoniḥwas born the Lotus-born; arose the one born of the lotus
अनुवाद
And he said to her: in the beginning there was one God, Nārāyaṇa, in whom the worlds are woven warp and woof; and from the lotus of His heart was born the Lotus-born.
संस्करण
c2ef14195222 · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:30:24 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Durvāsā begins to answer — and answers not with argument but with tradition: with an account of how the same thing was revealed to the creator.
The first words are almost a direct quotation from śruti: "in the beginning there was one Nārāyaṇa". So the Mahā-upaniṣad begins; so the Bṛhadāraṇyaka speaks of the Self. The book sets its narrative in that line.
The expression ota-prota — "woven warp and woof" — is from weaving: the threads of warp and of weft. The world is not placed in Him as a thing in a vessel but woven in, as a pattern in cloth; it cannot be taken out separately.
"From the lotus of His heart was born the Lotus-born" is a well-known image: Brahmā is born on the lotus that grew from Viṣṇu's navel. Here it says "from the heart", and the qualification matters: the creator proceeds not from an outer organ but from the core.
So the answer to Gāndharvī begins far back, at the very beginning of the world; and within a few mantras it will turn out that the question she asked was once asked by Brahmā himself.