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||
A Deusa é a Mātṛkā, a matriz dos mantras; nas palavras, ela é a própria forma do conhecimento. Para além até do conhecimento, ela é Consciência pura; entre os vazios, é a Testemunha do vazio. Nada há superior a Ela—assim é proclamada Durgā. A essa Durgā, a Deusa difícil de transpor, destruidora da má conduta, eu me prostro, eu que temo o devir mundano; ela é quem faz atravessar o oceano do saṃsāra.
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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