Tripura Upanishad

Translated by Dr. A. G. Krishna Warrier
Published by The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai

Om ! Speech is rooted in my thought (mind) and my thought is rooted in my speech.

Be manifest, patent, to me; be ye two, for me, the lynch-pins of the Veda.

Let not Vedic lore desert me.

With this mastered lore, I join day with night.

I shall speak what is right; I shall speak what is true.

Let that protect me; let that protect the speaker.

Let that protect me.

Let that protect the speaker, protect the speaker !

Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !

1. Three cities are there, and pathways three for all.

(On the dais of Fortune) are letters a, ka, tha and others.

In them there dwells, never-ageing, ancient,

The exceeding grandeur of the gods.

2. Subject to Her whose sources are nine

Shine forth the centres nine and Yogas nine,

Nine deities and regents of the planets nine,

Gentle healing deities nine and gestures nine.

3. The One she was, the Foremost;

She was the nine, the nineteen and the twenty-nine;

The forty, she; may the radiant energies three,

As fond mother’s love, encircle me.

4. In the beginning was upblazing Light;

Gloom and Motion stretched athwart the Ageless;

The Moonlight gladness and delights; these spheres

Adorn indeed (the knowers of Brahman).

5. Of the three lines, abodes, three worlds and three spheres

With triple constituents (She is the prop).

This group of three among the sheaths is prime.

In diagram drawn with mystic words

The God of Love with Fortune’s Goddess dwells.

6. The Exhilarating and the Proud,

The Auspicious, the Lucky and the Lovely,

The Perfected, the shy, the Witty One,

The Gratified, the chosen and the Full,

The Wealthy, the Forbidden, the Graceful,

The Eloquent – (These on Consciousness do wait).

7. Attended thus the Power of Consciousness

Is drunk with the draught of Immortality;

Knowing Her and worshipping Her throne

(Her devotees) on heaven’s great vault do dwell

And enter the supreme Triple City.

8. Desire, the womb, the Digit of Desire,

The Wielder of the Thunderbolt, the Cave,

Ha sa, the Wind, the Cloud, the King of Heaven,

Yet again the Cave, sa ka la and maya –

Such is the primeval Wisdom, embracing all,

Mother of the vast universe.

9. Uttering in secret Her three basic letters –

The sixth, the seventh and the eighth –

Lauding the Lord, the theme of the Upanishads,

The Seer, the Fashioner, the Free to Will,

(Seekers) achieve the state of Immortality.

10. The Mother of the Universe sustains

Her abode – the Destroyer’s Face, the Circle of the Sun,

The core of sounds, the span of time,

The Eternal, half the lunar month;

With sixteen (She sustains the core of their abode).

11. Or, worshipping the digit of desire in its manifold forms,

Enthroned in the three cavernous homes and in symbols

Of the rounded breasts and face set in the spheres,

The man of desires gains that which he wants.

12. Dressed fish, goat’s flesh,

Cooked rice, pleasure of sex,

Who offers to the Goddess great,

Merit and success for himself achieves.

13. With (Sarasvati) fair and (Lakshmi), World’s Mother,

(Gauri), roseate, primeval Power, withdrawer of the world,

Binds with noose creatures who grasp, and tread

Attachment’s path; and swiftly smites with bow and arrows five.

14-15. The Power of Consciousness and desire’s Lord,

Lord of auspicious powers, coequals both,

Of equal prowess, in energy equal,

Grant gifts to the fortunate here.

Of the two, the un-ageing Power, the world’s womb,

With offering of knowledge pleased,

Removes the aspirant’s twofold sheath.

With mind averted from illusion’s sphere

He becomes Creator, Protector,

Withdrawer of the world;

Nay, one with Cosmic Being.

16. This is Tripura’s great Upanishad,

Imperishable, which, in glorious words

The Rig, Yajus, Saman and Atharvan

And other forms of knowledge laud.

Om, Hrim, Om, Hrim – thus ends the secret doctrine.

Om ! Speech is rooted in my thought (mind) and my thought is rooted in my speech.

Be manifest, patent, to me; be ye two, for me, the lynch-pins of the Veda.

Let not Vedic lore desert me.

With this mastered lore, I join day with night.

I shall speak what is right; I shall speak what is true.

Let that protect me; let that protect the speaker.

Let that protect me.

Let that protect the speaker, protect the speaker !

Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !

Here ends the Tripura Upanishad, included in the Rig-Veda.