उपनिषद् · Brahma 4.9
॥
देवनागरी
पद्मकोशप्रतीकाशं सुषिरं चाप्यधोमुखम् । हृदयं तद्विजानीयाद्विश्वस्याऽऽयतनं महत्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
padmakośapratīkāśaṃ suṣiraṃ cāpyadhomukham | hṛdayaṃ tadvijānīyādviśvasyā''yatanaṃ mahat
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
पद्मकोशप्रतीकाशम्padmakośapratīkāśamresembling the cup of a lotus; like the lotus calyx
सुषिरम् च अपि अधोमुखम्suṣiram ca api adhomukhamhollow, and facing downward; hollow-bodied and turned face-down
हृदयम् तत् विजानीयात्hṛdayam tat vijānīyātthat heart let him know; this heart must be understood
विश्वस्य आयतनम् महत्viśvasya āyatanam mahatthe great dwelling-place of the universe; the vast abode of the world
अनुवाद
Resembling the cup of a lotus, hollow and turned downward — that heart let him know: the great dwelling-place of the universe.
संस्करण
1cb8ffca3141 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:09:07 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
A description of the heart, and described as it was seen, not as it was theorised.
Padma-kośa-pratīkāśa — “resembling the cup of a lotus”; suṣira — “hollow”; adhomukha — “turned downward”.
The last is striking: the unopened lotus hangs with its head down. So the heart — closed and lowered.
This image is constant in the Upaniṣads, and always the thought of opening attends it: the closed flower opens.
And then something is said of it which one does not expect of a hollow organ: viśvasya āyatanaṃ mahat — “the great dwelling-place of the universe”.
The same pair — the small and the all-containing — we read in the sixteenth verse of the Kaivalya and the third verse of the Mantrikā.
The Chāndogya says it most directly: “in this city of Brahman there is a small lotus-chamber, and in it a small space; and what is within it — that should be sought, for in it are contained both heaven and earth”.
Note the verb: vijānīyāt — “let him know”. Not “let him contemplate”: to know the heart for what it is.