Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 1.16
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मादिदं साममध्यगं जपति तस्मादिदं सामाङ्गं प्रजापतिस्तस्मादिदं सामाङ्गं प्रजापतिर्य एवं वेदेति महोपनिषत् । य एतां महोपनिषदं वेद स कृतपुरश्चरणो महाविष्णुर्भवति महाविष्णुर्भवति
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmādidaṃ sāmamadhyagaṃ japati tasmādidaṃ sāmāṅgaṃ prajāpatistasmādidaṃ sāmāṅgaṃ prajāpatirya evaṃ vedeti mahopaniṣat | ya etāṃ mahopaniṣadaṃ veda sa kṛtapuraścaraṇo mahāviṣṇurbhavati mahāviṣṇurbhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात् इदम् साममध्यगम् जपतिtasmāt idam sāmamadhyagam japatitherefore he repeats this chant that goes in the middle; hence he mutters this sāman that is in the midst
तस्मात् इदम् सामाङ्गम् प्रजापतिःtasmāt idam sāmāṅgam prajāpatiḥtherefore the limbs of this chant are Prajāpati; hence the aṅgas of this sāman are Prajāpati
यः एवम् वेद इति महोपनिषत्yaḥ evam veda iti mahopaniṣatwho so knows — such is the great upaniṣad; the one who understands this; this is the great secret
यः एताम् महोपनिषदम् वेदyaḥ etām mahopaniṣadam vedawho knows this great upaniṣad; the one who understands this mahopaniṣad
सः कृतपुरश्चरणःsaḥ kṛtapuraścaraṇaḥhe, having performed the preliminary rite; he, having carried out the puraścaraṇa
महाविष्णुः भवतिmahāviṣṇuḥ bhavatibecomes Mahāviṣṇu; is made the great Viṣṇu
Translation
Therefore he repeats this chant that goes in the middle; therefore the limbs of this chant are Prajāpati himself. Who so knows — such is the great upaniṣad. And who knows this great upaniṣad, he, having performed the preliminary rite, becomes Mahāviṣṇu, becomes Mahāviṣṇu.
Version
4e7367714194 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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The end of the first Upaniṣad, and it is sealed with a word stronger than anything said so far: mahāviṣṇur bhavati — “becomes Mahāviṣṇu”, and repeated twice.
It is said strongly, and it must be examined honestly.
Literally: the knower is made the Great Viṣṇu. It can be read as full identity; but the book sets beside it a proviso that decides everything: kṛta-puraścaraṇaḥ — “having performed the preliminary rite”.
Puraścaraṇa is the rite preceding the use of a mantra: a set number of repetitions, libations, abstinence. That is, the speech is not of one who has learned a piece of information, but of one who has passed through long practice.
And second: turns of the kind “becomes so-and-so” are usual in the śruti and mean the attainment of a nature, not the replacement of a person. We read in the Jābāla: “the uninitiated becomes initiated”; in the Kaivalya — “he attains the state of kaivalya”.
Vaiṣṇava Vedānta reads here likewise: the attainer gains likeness of form and nature — that very sārūpya which the previous paragraph mentioned among the measures of closeness — but does not become Him whom he worshipped.
Note also the paragraph's first word: sāma-madhya-ga, “going in the middle”. The mantra is held in the middle — between what was and what will be; between the in-breath and the out-breath.
The first Upaniṣad is finished. The second will begin to examine the anuṣṭubh itself word by word.