The Upanishad states that the Goddess is the Brahman (ultimate metaphysical Reality), and from her arise Prakṛti (matter) and Purusha (consciousness).

[7] The term Upanishad means it is knowledge or "hidden doctrine" text that belongs to the corpus of Vedanta literature collection presenting the philosophical concepts of Hinduism and considered the highest purpose of its scripture, the Vedas.

[8] According to Cheever Mackenzie Brown – a professor of Religion at the Trinity University,[9] this important Tantric and Shaktism text was probably composed sometime between the ninth and fourteenth centuries CE.

[21][22] The foundational premises of reverence for the feminine, as stated in the Devi Upanishad, are present in the Rigveda, in the following hymn,[12][19] I am the Queen, the gatherer-up of treasures, most thoughtful, first of those who merit worship.

I move with Rudras and Vasus, with Ā dityas and Visvedevas, Mitra and Varuņa, Indra and Agni, I support, and the two Aśvins.

The Devi Upanishad, in a manner similar to this Rigvedic hymn, asserts that from the Goddess arise Prakṛti (matter) and Purusha (consciousness), she is bliss and non-bliss, from her emerged the Vedas and what is different from it, the born and the unborn, and all of the universe.

[26][note 2] Verses 2 and 3 further assert that she is the universe, the Prakrti (nature) and Purusha (consciousness), the knowledge and ignorance, Brahman and Non-Brahman, the Vedas and whatever is different from it, "the unborn and the born, I am below, above and around".

[30] There, states June McDaniel – a Professor of Religious Studies,[31] the ideas of metaphysical reality called Brahman is in "everything below, around and above is her own personification".

[12] After suggesting in the first six verses that she is identical with Mahadevi, Durga, Kali, Mahalakshmi, Vaishnavi, Saraswati and all goddesses, Devi asserts that it is she to whom the oblations of any Yajna (fire rituals) reach.

[29] In verse 7, with a hymn structure resonating with the Gayatri Mantra,[29][32] the Devi states, that one who knows "my essence in the water of the inner sea", attains her.

[33] In verse 15, in an iconographic description of the Great Goddess, the text states Devi carries a noose, a goad, a bow and arrow, and enchants all.

[30] According to verse 18, she is venerated because Devi is eight attendant deities of Indra ("Vasus"); the eleven Rudras; and the twelve Adityas or sun gods representing each month of a year.

[17] In another iconic description, in verses 20 and 24, the texts says that she is seated in one's "lotus heart", adorned with a crescent moon, conjoined with fire, glowing like the early morning sun, propitious, armed with the "noose and goad", with expressions marking her benevolence and dissolving fears, and that she is three eyed, attired in red, tender, bestows all wishes to her devotees.

[17] The tantric aspect in this Upanishad, says McDaniel, is in the usage of the terms yantra, bindu, bija, mantra, shakti and chakra.

"[33] Her relationship with Shiva like Aditi and the progeny of Skanda, her comradeship with goddesses like Saraswati and Lakshmi, her status as Maya (the empirical reality) and her representation of the wind, the cloud and Indra are all recalled in verses 8 to 14.