उपनिषद् · Devī 19
॥
देवनागरी
प्रपद्ये शरणं देवीं दुंदुर्गे दुरितं हर ॥ तां दुर्गां दुर्गमां देवीं दुराचारविघातिनीम् । नमामि भवभीतोऽहं संसारार्णवतारिणीम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
prapadye śaraṇaṃ devīṃ duṃdurge duritaṃ hara || tāṃ durgāṃ durgamāṃ devīṃ durācāravighātinīm | namāmi bhavabhīto'haṃ saṃsārārṇavatāriṇīm
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
प्रपद्ये शरणं देवींprapadye śaraṇaṃ devīṃI come for refuge to the Goddess
दुं दुर्गे दुरितं हरduṃ durge duritaṃ hara"duṃ", O Durgā, take away misfortune
तां दुर्गां दुर्गमां देवींtāṃ durgāṃ durgamāṃ devīṃthat Durgā, the hard-to-attain Goddess
नमामि भव-भीतः अहम्namāmi bhava-bhītaḥ ahamI bow, I who am frightened of existence
संसार-अर्णव-तारिणीम्saṃsāra-arṇava-tāriṇīmferrying across the ocean of the round of rebirth
अनुवाद
«I come for refuge to the Goddess: "duṃ", O Durgā, take away misfortune! That Durgā, the hard-to-attain Goddess, who averts evil conduct, I bow, frightened of existence — she who ferries across the ocean of the round of rebirth».
संस्करण
bde8f186c4db · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
For the second time in the book it is said, śaraṇaṃ prapadye, “I come for refuge,” and this time it is accompanied by a phrase that explains everything: bhava-bhīto 'ham, “I who am frightened of existence.”
The speaker has named himself. Not a knower, not an ascetic, not one versed in mantras, but — a frightened man; and he comes because he is afraid.
This is rarer in books about the Highest than it ought to be, and it deserves noting how honest it is. Usually one who discourses about the ultimate presents himself as calm; but here a person says plainly that he is afraid — and that this is why he has come.
This fear is named precisely: bhava, “existence, becoming, coming-to-be.” He fears neither death nor pain, but the very fact that everything is constantly happening: being born, going on, ending, and beginning again. Against such a fear nothing can be done alone, for there is nowhere to flee — existence is everywhere; and what remains is exactly what is done here.
Worth noting, too, is the last word: saṃsāra-arṇava-tāriṇī, “ferrying across the ocean of the round of rebirth.” Again a crossing, again two shores, and again one who ferries; and this verb, as noted examining the Tripurātāpinī (85), is a causative: not “crosses over,” but “ferries others across.”
The Vaiṣṇava reading has nothing to add to this line. A person afraid of existence has named the one who can carry him across, and has gone to her; and in this consists the whole path, however it may be set out in the remaining twenty-one lines.