Devi Upanishad: Verse 28
मन्त्राणां मातृका देवी शब्दानां ज्ञानरूपिणी ।
ज्ञानानां चिन्मयातीता शून्यानां शून्यसाक्षिणी ॥
यस्याः परतरं नास्ति सैषा दुर्गा प्रकीर्तिता ।
तां दुर्गां दुर्गमां देवीं दुराचारविघातिनीम् ।
नमामि भवभीतोऽहं संसारार्णवतारिणीम् ॥२७–२८॥
मन्त्राणाम् । मातृका । देवी । शब्दानाम् । ज्ञान-रूपिणी ।
ज्ञानानाम् । चिन्मयी । अतीता । शून्यानाम् । शून्य-साक्षिणी ।
यस्याः । परतरम् । न । अस्ति । सा । एषा । दुर्गा । प्रकीर्तिता ।
ताम् । दुर्गाम् । दुर्गमाम् । देवीं । दुराचार-विघातिनीम् ।
नमामि । भव-भीतः । अहम् । संसार-अर्णव-तारिणीम् ।
mantrāṇāṃ mātṛkā devī śabdānāṃ jñānarūpiṇī |
jñānānāṃ cinmayātītā śūnyānāṃ śūnyasākṣiṇī ||
yasyāḥ parataraṃ nāsti saiṣā durgā prakīrtitā |
tāṃ durgāṃ durgamāṃ devīṃ durācāravighātinīm |
namāmi bhavabhīto'haṃ saṃsārārṇavatāriṇīm ||27–28||
देवी सब मंत्रों की माँ है। शब्दों में वो ज्ञान का रूप है। ज्ञान से भी आगे वो चेतना है। खाली जगह में भी वो देखती है। उससे बड़ा कोई नहीं, इसलिए उसे दुर्गा कहते हैं। मैं उस दुर्गा को नमन करता हूँ जो बुरी हरकतों को खत्म करती है। मैं डर के मारे झुकता हूँ क्योंकि वो संसार के समुंदर से पार लगाती है।
The Goddess is the matrix (mātṛkā) of mantras; of words she is of the form of knowledge. Beyond (even) knowledge, she is consciousness itself; of the voids, she is the witness of the void. Than her there is nothing higher—thus she is proclaimed as Durgā. That Durgā, the hard-to-cross Goddess, the destroyer of evil conduct—her I bow to, I who am afraid of worldly becoming, (she who is) the one who ferries across the ocean of saṃsāra.
- śūnyānāṃ śūnya-sākṣiṇī (compound resolved)
- saiṣā = sā + eṣā
- bhavabhīto'haṃ = bhava-bhītaḥ + aham (visarga before vowel → 'o)
- saṃsārārṇavatāriṇīm = saṃsāra + arṇava + tāriṇīm (tatpuruṣa compaction)
About this Verse
- Central concept
- Brahman/Śakti as Cit (pure consciousness) and sākṣin (witness); Mokṣa (liberation)
- The mahavakyas
- Indirect: supports mahāvākya purport by identifying the supreme as pure consciousness (cit) and the witnessing Self; aligns with ‘prajñānaṃ brahma’ (Aitareya) in sense, though expressed theistically as Devī.
- Veda
- Atharva
- Chandas
- Mixed: largely anuṣṭubh-like pādas with devotional/prose-like expansion; not a strict single Vedic meter (late Upaniṣadic style).
Yoga and practice
Mantra-japa and nāda-upāsanā (sound-based meditation) grounded in the insight that mantra and meaning culminate in witnessing consciousness; contemplation of sākṣitva (witness-attitude) even through states of ‘emptiness’/nirodha; devotional surrender (śaraṇāgati) to transcend fear and saṃsāra.
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