Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 1.21
॥
Devanāgarī
शिरसीशानमन्त्रेण कण्ठे तत्पुरुषेण तु । अघोरेण गले धार्यं तेनैव हृदयेऽपि च
Transliteration (IAST)
śirasīśānamantreṇa kaṇṭhe tatpuruṣeṇa tu | aghoreṇa gale dhāryaṃ tenaiva hṛdaye'pi ca
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शिरसि ईशान-मन्त्रेणśirasi īśāna-mantreṇaon the head, with the mantra of Īśāna
कण्ठे तत्पुरुषेण तुkaṇṭhe tatpuruṣeṇa tuon the neck, with that of Tatpuruṣa
अघोरेण गले धार्यंaghoreṇa gale dhāryaṃwith Aghora it is worn on the throat
तेन एव हृदये अपि चtena eva hṛdaye api caand with the same, on the heart also
Translation
On the head, with the mantra of Īśāna; on the neck, with that of Tatpuruṣa; with Aghora it is worn on the throat, and with the same on the heart also.
Version
08ef1d82585c · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The pañca-brahma-mantras, "the five mantras of brahman," are named, and it is worth saying what they are, for they will be mentioned once more. These are five sayings of the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, answering to the five faces of Sadāśiva: Sadyojāta ("suddenly born"), Vāmadeva ("the beautiful god"), Aghora ("the not-terrible"), Tatpuruṣa ("that man"), and Īśāna ("the ruler"). Each face is turned in its own direction, and each is given its own place on the wearer's body.
More important than the mapping itself is what it presupposes. The seed is put on with a word; without the word it is the seed of a tree and nothing more. This position runs through the whole book, and it is worth tracing how it recurs. In the very first prose passage the effect was attributed to nāma-uccāraṇa, "the utterance of the name" (0p2); here the wearing is conditioned on a mantra; and in the closing prose it will be said that the mantra must be received guruṇā labdham, "from a teacher" (3p12).
That is, a book wholly devoted to an object returns primacy to the word three times, leaving the object a servant's place. The Vaiṣṇava side carries this relation through to the end and does not soften it. For it, the beads are an instrument for repetition, not a source of power: it is the nāma, the Name, that acts; the beads are needed only so the hand is occupied with counting and the mind does not wander. The power is in the word, not in the wood — and every time this is forgotten, what its books call superstition begins.