नारदो ब्रह्माणमुपसमेत्योवाचाधीहि भगवन् ब्रह्मविद्यां वरिष्ठां यया चिरात्सर्वपापं व्यपोह्य ब्रह्मविद्यां लब्ध्वैश्वर्यवान्भवति । ब्रह्मोवाच हयग्रीवदैवत्यान्मन्त्रान्यो वेद स श्रुतिस्मृतीतिहासपुराणानि वेद । स सर्वैश्वर्यवान्भवति । त एते मन्त्राः
nārado brahmāṇamupasametyovācādhīhi bhagavan brahmavidyāṃ variṣṭhāṃ yayā cirātsarvapāpaṃ vyapohya brahmavidyāṃ labdhvaiśvaryavānbhavati | brahmovāca hayagrīvadaivatyānmantrānyo veda sa śrutismṛtītihāsapurāṇāni veda | sa sarvaiśvaryavānbhavati | ta ete mantrāḥ
«Nārada, having approached Brahmā, said: "Teach, lord, the best knowledge of brahman, by which, having at last cast off all sin and obtained knowledge of brahman, one becomes possessed of lordship." Brahmā said: "Whoever knows the mantras whose deity is Hayagrīva knows śruti, smṛti, the itihāsas, and the purāṇas; he becomes possessed of all lordship. Here are these mantras».
5959d865ba22 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The Hayagrīva Upaniṣad begins, and it is worth first saying who Hayagrīva is, for he has not appeared in the earlier books. Hayagrīva means “horse-necked,” from haya, “horse,” and grīva, “neck”: this is the form of Viṣṇu with a horse’s head. The story of him is this. Two daityas, Madhu and Kaiṭabha, stole the Vedas from Brahmā at the beginning of creation and hid them in the waters; the Lord took this form, found them, killed the thieves, and returned the Vedas.
Hence Hayagrīva is, in this literature, the god of learning: he is invoked before beginning study, and this custom is alive to this day — especially among the Śrī-Vaiṣṇavas, where Vedānta Deśika wrote him a famous hymn. It is worth noting who asks and of whom: Nārada asks Brahmā. The pattern is usual; but note that the question concerns brahma-vidyā, “knowledge of brahman,” while the answer given is mantras.
This detail matters and determines the whole cast of this book: knowledge here is taught not through reasoning, but through a word that is repeated. Add, too, the promise with which Brahmā begins: whoever knows these mantras knows śruti, smṛti, the itihāsas, and the purāṇas. This is a strong promise, and it should not be read literally: one who repeats the mantra does not thereby memorize the purāṇas.
It should be read as the Vaiṣṇava side reads all such passages: whoever knows the source knows also what flows from it; and that watering the root nourishes the branches too (Bhāgavatam 4.31.14) was discussed reading Śāṭyāyanīya (12).