ॐ सर्वे वै देवा देवीमुपतस्थुः कासि त्वं महादेवीति ॥ १ ॥
ōṁ sarvē vai dēvā dēvīmupatasthuḥ kāsi tvaṁ mahādēvīti || 1 ||
Translation
Om. All the gods came to the Goddess and asked: “Who are you, O great Goddess?”
Word by word
- ōṁ
- sacred syllable
- sarvē
- all
- vai
- indeed
- dēvāḥ
- the gods
- dēvīm
- the Goddess
- upatasthuḥ
- approached
- kā asi tvam
- who are you
- mahādēvi
- O great Goddess
- iti
- (thus they asked)
Meaning
The Upaniṣad opens with the oldest question of the spiritual life, asked here by the gods themselves. Everything that follows is the Goddess’s own answer.