विष्णुं प्रथमान्त्यं मुखं द्वितीयान्त्यं भद्रं तृतीयान्त्यं म्यहं चतुर्थ्यान्तं साम जानीयाद्यो जानीते सोऽमृतत्वं च गच्छति । योऽसौ यदिदं किञ्चात्मनि ब्रह्मण्येवानुष्टुभं जानीयाद्यो जानीते सोऽमृतत्वं च गच्छति ॥ य इहैव स्थातुमपेक्षते तस्मै सर्वैश्वैर्यं ददाति । यत्र कुत्रापि म्रियते देहान्ते देवः परमं ब्रह्म तारकं व्याचष्टे येनासावमृतीभूत्वा सोऽमृतत्वं च गच्छति
viṣṇuṃ prathamāntyaṃ mukhaṃ dvitīyāntyaṃ bhadraṃ tṛtīyāntyaṃ myahaṃ caturthyāntaṃ sāma jānīyādyo jānīte so'mṛtatvaṃ ca gacchati | yo'sau yadidaṃ kiñcātmani brahmaṇyevānuṣṭubhaṃ jānīyādyo jānīte so'mṛtatvaṃ ca gacchati || ya ihaiva sthātumapekṣate tasmai sarvaiśvairyaṃ dadāti | yatra kutrāpi mriyate dehānte devaḥ paramaṃ brahma tārakaṃ vyācaṣṭe yenāsāvamṛtībhūtvā so'mṛtatvaṃ ca gacchati
“Viṣṇu” is the end of the first quarter, “mukha” — of the second, “bhadra” — of the third, “myaham” — of the fourth: let him know this chant; who knows attains immortality. And who in the Ātman, in Brahman, knows the anuṣṭubh as that which is all that is — he attains immortality. Who wishes to remain here, to him he gives all lordship; and wherever such a one dies, at the departure from the body the God, the highest Brahman, expounds to him the ferrying one, by which he, having become immortal, attains immortality.
a67593b90025 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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The riddle is told out: the last words of the quarters — “viṣṇu”, “mukha”, “bhadra”, “myaham”.
Let us now put together what the four paragraphs have given. The first words: ugra, jvala, nṛsiṃha, mṛtyu. The second: vīra, taṁ sa, haṁ bhī, mṛtyum. The third: mahā, ṣaṇa, nāma. The last: viṣṇu, mukha, bhadra, myaham.
The anuṣṭubh assembles: “Ugraṁ vīraṁ mahāviṣṇuṁ jvalantaṁ sarvatomukham, nṛsiṃhaṁ bhīṣaṇaṁ bhadraṁ mṛtyu-mṛtyuṁ namāmy aham.”
“To the terrible, the valiant, the great Viṣṇu, the blazing, with face turned everywhere, the man-lion, the fearsome, the good, the death of death itself — I bow.”
Note how this name is built. The epithets in a row are dread ones: terrible, valiant, blazing, man-lion, fearsome. And in their midst — bhadra, “the good”. And at the end — mṛtyu-mṛtyu, “the death of death”.
In this is the whole of Nṛsiṃha: the terrible is called good not in spite, but therefore. He is terrible to that which kills what kills us.
The second half of the paragraph adds a promise familiar from the Rāma-tāpanī: at the departure from the body the Deity expounds to the dying the tāraka, “the ferrying one”. There Rudra did it in Kāśī; here — He Himself.
And the proviso: yatra kutrāpi mriyate — “wherever he may die”. No place is named. Kāśī is not needed here.