Bahvricha
The Bahvṛca (Bahvricha) Upaniṣad is a short Śākta Upaniṣad affiliated with the Ṛgveda, best read as an Upaniṣadic condensation of the Devī-sūkta (Ṛgveda 10.125), where the Goddess speaks in the first person as the power behind gods and cosmic functions. In a compact set of verses, it identifies Devī/Śakti with Brahman and interprets Vedic deities such as Agni, Indra, and Varuṇa as functional manifestations of her single, all-pervading power. Philosophically, the text emphasizes the non-difference of Brahman and Śakti, the self-luminous character of consciousness-as-power, and Devī’s simultaneous immanence in the world and transcendence beyond all forms. By treating Vāc (sacred speech) as the Goddess’s own mode of being, it elevates mantra and śruti from mere ritual speech to a vehicle of contemplative knowledge. In historical terms, the Upaniṣad participates in the late-Upaniṣadic effort to secure Vedic authority for Śākta theology while remaining faithful to the Upaniṣadic intuition of a single ultimate reality. Liberation is indicated as the recognition that “Devī is the Ātman,” whereby dualistic error falls away and jñāna and bhakti converge in one truth.
Start ReadingKey Teachings
• Devī/Śakti is identified with Brahman: the ultimate reality is conscious power
self-luminous and all-pervading.
• The Devī-sūkta paradigm: the Goddess speaks as the source of gods
seers
and cosmic order; Vedic deities are her functions.
• Vāc (sacred speech) as metaphysics: mantra and revelation are expressions of Devī’s own being; speech is a path to knowledge.
• Immanence and transcendence: Devī is both the world’s material-causal ground and the transcendent witness beyond all forms.
• Non-dual recognition: liberation arises from realizing the identity of ātman and Devī/Brahman
dissolving subject–object duality.
• Unity of jñāna and bhakti: contemplative insight and devotional orientation are complementary modes of approaching the same supreme.
• Ritual and inner worship: external Vedic/tantric forms are validated but subordinated to inner realization of Devī as the Self.
Verses of the Bahvricha
9 verses with Sanskrit text, transliteration, and translation.
Verse 1
देवी ह्येकाग्र एवासीत् । सैव जगदण्डम् असृजत् । कामकलेति विज्ञायते । शृङ्गारकलेति विज्ञायते ॥१॥
Indeed, in the beginning the Goddess alone existed. She herself created the cosmic egg. She is known as “Kāmakalā”; she is known as “Śṛṅgārakalā”.
Śakti as Brahman (cosmic causality; manifestation from the One)Verse 2
तस्या एव ब्रह्मा अजीजनत् । विष्णुर् अजीजनत् । रुद्रोऽजीजनत् । सर्वे मरुद्गणा अजीजनत् । गन्धर्वाप्सरसः किन्नरा वादित्रवादिनः समन्ताद् अजीजनत् । भोग्यम् अजीजनत् । सर्वम् अजीजनत् । सर्वं शाक्तम् अजीजनत् ...
From her alone Brahmā was born; Viṣṇu was born; Rudra was born. All the hosts of the Maruts were born. On every side Gandharvas and Apsarases, Kinnaras, and players of instruments were born. The objects of enjoyment were born. Everything was born. All that is of the nature of Śakti was born. Egg-born, sweat-born, sprout-born, and womb-born—whatever living beings there are, stationary and moving, including humans—all were born.
Śakti as the material and efficient cause of the universe; emanation of deities and beingsVerse 3
सैषा परा शक्तिः । सैषा शांभवीविद्या कादिविद्येति वा हादिविद्येति वा सादिविद्येति वा । रहस्यम् । ओमों वाचि प्रतिष्ठा ॥३॥
She indeed is the supreme Power. She indeed is the Śāmbhavī-vidyā—known as the Kādi-vidyā, or as the Hādi-vidyā, or as the Sādi-vidyā. This is the secret: “Om, Om”—the foundation in speech.
Mantra-śakti; Śāmbhavī-vidyā; Om as the basis of vāk (speech)Verse 4
सैव पुरत्रयं शरीरत्रयं व्याप्य बहिरन्तरम् अवभासयन्ती देशकालवस्त्वन्तरसङ्गात् महात्रिपुरसुन्दरी वै प्रत्यक्चितिः ॥४॥
She herself, pervading the three cities and the three bodies, illumining the outer and the inner—by the conjunction of distinctions of place, time, and object—is indeed Mahātripurasundarī, the inward consciousness.
Pratyak-caitanya (inner consciousness) as Devī; pervasion of the three bodies/worlds; nondual illuminationVerse 5
सैवात्मा ततोऽन्यम् असत्यम् अनात्मा । अत एषा ब्रह्मासंवित्तिर्भावाभावकलाविनिर्मुक्ता चिद्विद्याऽद्वितीयब्रह्मसंवित्तिः सच्चिदानन्दलहरी महात्रिपुरसुन्दरी बहिरन्तरम् अनुप्रविश्य स्वयम् एकैव विभाति । यदस्...
She herself is the Self; other than that is unreal, non-self. Therefore this is the awareness of Brahman—free from the modalities of being and non-being—this knowledge of consciousness, the nondual awareness of Brahman. Mahātripurasundarī, a wave of Existence–Consciousness–Bliss, entering the outer and the inner, shines by herself as one alone. What exists is mere being; what shines is mere consciousness; what is dear—bliss—that indeed is the primordial form of Mahātripurasundarī. You and I and the whole universe, all the deities, and all else—everything is Mahātripurasundarī. The one truth, the reality called Lalitā, is nondual, of undivided import: the supreme Brahman.
Advaita (nondual Brahman) expressed as Śakti/Tripurasundarī; Sat-Cit-Ānanda; negation of anātmanVerse 6
पञ्चरूपपरित्यागाद् दर्परूपप्रहाणतः । अधिष्ठानं परं तत्त्वम् एकं सच्छिष्यते महत् ॥ इति ॥ ६ ॥
By abandoning the five forms and relinquishing the form of pride (darpa), the supreme principle—the underlying substratum—remains as the One, the great Reality (sat).
Brahman as adhiṣṭhāna (substratum); renunciation of nāma-rūpa and ahaṅkāraVerse 7
प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्मेति वा अहं ब्रह्मास्मीति वा भाष्यते । तत्त्वमसीत्येव संभाष्यते । अयमात्मा ब्रह्मेति वा ब्रह्मैवाहमस्मीति वा ॥ ७ ॥
It is declared: “Consciousness (prajñāna) is Brahman,” or “I am Brahman”; and indeed it is spoken: “That thou art”; and it is declared: “This Self (Ātman) is Brahman,” or “I indeed am Brahman.”
Mahāvākya teaching; identity of Ātman and Brahman; prajñāna (pure consciousness)Verse 8
योऽहमस्मीति वा सोऽहमस्मीति वा योऽसौ सोऽहमस्मीति वा या भाव्यते सैषा षोडशी श्रीविद्या पञ्चदशाक्षरी श्रीमहात्रिपुरसुन्दरी बालाम्बिकेति बगलेति वा मातङ्गीति स्वयंवरकल्याणीति भुवनेश्वरीति चामुण्डेति चण्डेति...
Whether contemplated as “I am He,” or “He am I,” or “That one—He—is I”: she who is thus contemplated is this Ṣoḍaśī Śrīvidyā, the fifteen-syllabled mantra, Śrī Mahātripurasundarī—also called Bālāmbikā, Bagalā, Mātaṅgī, Svayaṃvarakalyāṇī, Bhuvaneśvarī, Cāmuṇḍā, Caṇḍā, Vārāhī, Tiraskariṇī, Rājamātaṅgī, Śukaśyāmalā, Laghuśyāmalā, Aśvārūḍhā, Pratyaṅgirā, Dhūmāvatī, Sāvitrī, Gāyatrī, Sarasvatī, and Brahmānandakalikā.
Upāsanā of nondual identity (so’ham/yo’ham) integrated with Śrīvidyā/Devī as Brahman; nāma-rūpa as divine modalitiesVerse 9
ऋचो अक्षरे परमे व्योमन् । यस्मिन् देवा अधि विश्वे निषेदुः । यस्तन्न वेद किमृचा करिष्यति । य इत्तद्विदुस्त इमे समासते । इत्युपनिषत् ॥ ९ ॥
The ṛc-hymns abide in the Imperishable (akṣara), in the supreme space, wherein all the gods have taken their seat. He who does not know That—what will he do with the ṛc? But those who indeed know That—these sit there together. Thus is the Upaniṣad.
Akṣara Brahman; primacy of realization over mere recitation; ‘parama vyoman’ as the locus of BrahmanRead Upanishads in the Vedapath app
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