Maa Kali dressed with lights, flowers, and the scythe of the shrine.

Sacred Learning

Devī Upaniṣad 4 (Sanskrit Documents numbering)

Devī Upaniṣad 4 (Sanskrit Documents numbering)

Devī Upaniṣad 4 (Sanskrit Documents numbering)

Canonical source text

तामग्निवर्णां तपसा ज्वलन्तीं वैरोचनीं कर्मफलेषु जुष्टाम् । दुर्गां देवीं शरणमहं प्रपद्ये सुतरां नाशयते तमः ॥

IAST transliteration

tām agnivarṇāṃ tapasā jvalantīṃ vairocanīṃ karmaphaleṣu juṣṭām | durgāṃ devīṃ śaraṇam ahaṃ prapadye sutarāṃ nāśayate tamaḥ ||

Close translation

I take refuge in that Goddess Durgā, fire-hued, blazing by tapas, the radiant one resorted to in the fruits of acts. She utterly destroys darkness.

Reader-friendly meaning

Refuge is named as Durgā who burns darkness — a public stotra-line already close to this Ashram’s Kali days.

Meenananda editorial explanation

The public Durgā stotras of the Mantra Library sit beside this line. A sitting with the house still begins with a call.

Devī Upaniṣad 4, Sanskrit Documents recension. Sanskrit: public-domain Devanagari as encoded at Sanskrit Documents (sanskritdocuments.org). Foundation translations: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Compare

English

I take refuge in that Goddess Durgā, fire-hued, blazing by tapas, the radiant one resorted to in the fruits of acts. She utterly destroys darkness.

বাংলা

সেই অগ্নিবর্ণা, তপস্যায় জ্বলা, কর্মফলে সেবা পাওয়া দুর্গা দেবীর শরণ নিই। তিনি অন্ধকার সম্পূর্ণ নাশ করেন।

हिन्दी

उस अग्निवर्णा, तप से ज्वलित, कर्मफलों में सेवित दुर्गा देवी की शरण लेता हूँ। वह अन्धकार का अत्यन्त नाश करती हैं।