उपनिषद् · Mantrikā 1
॥
देवनागरी
ओं अष्टपादं शुचिं हंसं त्रिसूत्रमणुमव्ययम् । त्रिवर्त्मानं तेजसोऽहं सर्वतःपश्यन् न पश्यति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
oṃ aṣṭapādaṃ śuciṃ haṃsaṃ trisūtramaṇumavyayam | trivartmānaṃ tejaso'haṃ sarvataḥpaśyan na paśyati
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
ओं अष्टपादम् शुचिम् हंसम्oṃ aṣṭapādam śucim haṃsamOm. The eight-footed, pure swan; Om. The haṃsa of eight feet, the pure one
त्रिसूत्रम् अणुम् अव्ययम्trisūtram aṇum avyayamwith three threads, subtlest, imperishable; three-threaded, minutest, undecaying
त्रिवर्त्मानम्trivartmānamwith three paths; of three roads
तेजसः अहम्tejasaḥ ahamfrom the radiance — I; out of the light — I
सर्वतः पश्यन् न पश्यतिsarvataḥ paśyan na paśyatilooking everywhere, one sees not; he who gazes all around does not see
अनुवाद
Om. The eight-footed, pure swan, with three threads, subtlest and imperishable, of three paths — looking everywhere, a man does not see him.
संस्करण
5ac617d983cc · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:00:17 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The book opens with a riddle, and the riddle is of the kind the Vedas call “seen by all and invisible”.
Described is the haṃsa, the swan: eight-footed, pure, with three threads, subtlest, imperishable, of three paths.
The eight feet are the eight principles of nature which the Gītā lists thus: earth, waters, fire, wind, space, mind, intellect and self-sense. The three threads are the three guṇas. The three paths are three states, or the three roads by which men depart.
And the last words overturn everything: sarvataḥ paśyan na paśyati — “looking everywhere, he does not see”.
In this lies the whole meaning of the first verse. It is not said that the object is hidden: it is said that the looker looks everywhere and does not notice.
This book is known under two names: Mantrikā and Cūlikā. The second means “the crowning, the summit” — from cūḍā, “crest, the top of a post”; the commentator Nārāyaṇa explains that it is the spire of the Vedānta.
Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa cites it twice in the first adhyāya of the Vedānta-sūtra, examining what “the unborn one” means in the Śvetāśvatara. The fifth and fifteenth verses are those very places.