उपनिषद् · Varāha 1.16
॥
देवनागरी
वराहरूपिणं मां ये भजन्ति मयि भक्तितः । विमुक्ताज्ञानतत्कार्या जीवन्मुक्ता भवन्ति ते
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
varāharūpiṇaṃ māṃ ye bhajanti mayi bhaktitaḥ | vimuktājñānatatkāryā jīvanmuktā bhavanti te
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
वराह-रूपिणं मां येvarāha-rūpiṇaṃ māṃ yeme, in the form of a boar, who
भजन्ति मयि भक्तितःbhajanti mayi bhaktitaḥworship, in me, with devotion
विमुक्त-अज्ञान-तत्-कार्याःvimukta-ajñāna-tat-kāryāḥfreed from ignorance and its effects
जीवन्-मुक्ताः भवन्ति तेjīvan-muktāḥ bhavanti teliberated while living they become
अनुवाद
"Who worship me, in the form of a boar, with devotion to me, — freed from ignorance and its effects, they become liberated while living."
संस्करण
78d10d1ec71b · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Here is the positive definition promised by the preceding verse, and it is unexpected: after ninety-six principles, bhaktitah, "with devotion," is named. Worth noting is how this echoes everything we have read. The book has listed the senses, the breaths, the elements, the bodies, the states, the qualities, the deeds, the vices, and the deities. And when it came to what to do, it named not discernment and not reflection, but worship.
This shift we have noted in every book, always the same: an abstract teaching cannot be performed abstractly. Let us add what is said here with particular clarity: varaha-rupinam mam, "me, in the form of a boar." That is, the object of worship named is not the impersonal sum of the list, but that very form in which the speaker stands before the listener.
Let us compare this to the Gita, where the same is said in the same words: mam cha yo'vyabhicharena bhakti-yogena sevate, sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate, "who serves Me with unswerving devotion, having transcended these gunas, is fit for brahman-being" (14.26). Worth noting is that there too the means is named after the list of gunas, and that transcending the gunas is there a consequence of service, not the reverse. Let us add the word jivan-mukta, "liberated while living," discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (1.3). Here it is placed as the consequence of devotion, not of knowing the list; and this is, in my view, the real conclusion of the whole first chapter.