मूर्धानमिति मूर्धन्यग्रे न्यसेत् । त्र्यम्बकमिति ललाटे नीलग्रीवायेति कण्ठे कण्ठस्य दक्षिणे पार्श्वे त्र्यायुषमिति वामेति कपोलयोः कालायेति नेत्रयोस्त्रिलोचनायेति श्रोत्रयोः शृणवामेति वक्त्रे प्रब्रवामेति हृदये आत्मन इति नाभौ
mūrdhānamiti mūrdhanyagre nyaset | tryambakamiti lalāṭe nīlagrīvāyeti kaṇṭhe kaṇṭhasya dakṣiṇe pārśve tryāyuṣamiti vāmeti kapolayoḥ kālāyeti netrayostrilocanāyeti śrotrayoḥ śṛṇavāmeti vaktre prabravāmeti hṛdaye ātmana iti nābhau
««Crown» — let him place it on the crown of the head, in front; «tryambaka» — on the forehead; «to the Blue-necked One» — on the throat; …«to the Dark One» — on the eyes; «to the Three-eyed One» — on the ears; «may we hear» — on the mouth; «may we proclaim» — on the heart; «of the Ātman» — on the navel…»
11f959f12df1 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The nyāsa, «placement», begins, discussed when reading Tripurātāpinī (76) and Bhāvanā (p34): a syllable or mantra is uttered and at once applied to a part of the body. Worth noting how meaningful, and not arbitrary, the correspondences are here. «To the Blue-necked One» — on the throat: the name of Śiva, whose throat turned blue from the poison he drank, is applied to the throat. «To the Three-eyed One» — on the ears? No: «to the Dark One» is applied to the eyes, and «to the Three-eyed One» to the ears; and here the correspondence is no longer direct.
But two places deserve special attention: śṛṇavāma, «may we hear» — on the mouth, and prabravāma, «may we proclaim» — on the heart. Worth noting the transposition: hearing is given to the mouth, and speech to the heart. This transposition, if it is not a slip, is superb. For one listens, in essence, with the mouth — that is, with silence: while speaking, one does not hear. And one speaks with the heart: what is not said with the heart is sound, not speech.
The Vaishnava side builds its whole practice on these two words: śravaṇaṃ kīrtanam, «hearing and chanting», are the first two of the nine kinds of service (Bhāgavatam 7.5.23). And the order there is the same: hear first, then speak; for to speak before hearing is to retell oneself.