Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.55
॥
Devanāgarī
नारसिंहं च वाराहं लिखेन्मन्त्रद्वयं तथा । कूटो रेफानुग्रहेन्दुनादशक्त्यादिभिर्युतः
Transliteration (IAST)
nārasiṃhaṃ ca vārāhaṃ likhenmantradvayaṃ tathā | kūṭo rephānugrahendunādaśaktyādibhiryutaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नारसिंहम् च वाराहम्nārasiṃham ca vārāhamof Nṛsiṃha and of Varāha; of the man-lion and the boar
लिखेत् मन्त्रद्वयम् तथाlikhet mantradvayam tathālet him write the two mantras; let him inscribe the pair of mantras
कूटः रेफानुग्रहेन्दुkūṭaḥ rephānugrahenduthe compound syllable with “ra”, grace and the moon; the ligature with the repha, the anusvāra
नादशक्त्यादिभिः युतःnādaśaktyādibhiḥ yutaḥjoined with nāda, śakti and the rest; with the nāda, the śakti and the remainder
Translation
Let him write the two mantras — of Nṛsiṃha and of Varāha; the compound syllable with “ra”, with the moon and the nāda, furnished with śakti and the rest…
Version
1a61bb6033f9 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
At the sides of the maṇḍala two are posted: Nṛsiṃha and Varāha.
The choice is not accidental. Of the ten descents of Viṣṇu these two are the most fearsome in form: the man-lion who tore Hiraṇyakaśipu, and the boar who raised the earth from the deep. They are set as guards.
Then begins the description of the syllables, and this description is encoded.
The device is this: instead of writing a syllable, its parts are named in words. Repha is the sound “r”. Indu is “the moon”, and the moon means the dot over the letter, the anusvāra. Nāda is the hum. Śakti is the feminine principle, that is, a certain vowel.
Why such secrecy? So that the mantra not be read by a casual eye. A syllable written in code cannot be uttered without the key, and the key is given by the teacher.
All the books on mantras keep this rule, and ours is no exception: the sixty-seventh verse will forbid handing all this on “to an unenlightened man”.
The next nine verses are the darkest part of the book: solid code. We will read them without pretending to decode, but without skipping either.