Upanishads · Tārasāra 1.3
॥
Devanāgarī
अत्र हि जन्तोः प्राणेषूत्क्रममाणेषु रुद्रस्तारकं ब्रह्म व्याचष्टे येनासावमृतीभूत्वा मोक्षी भवति
Transliteration (IAST)
atra hi jantoḥ prāṇeṣūtkramamāṇeṣu rudrastārakaṃ brahma vyācaṣṭe yenāsāvamṛtībhūtvā mokṣī bhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अत्र हि जन्तोः प्राणेषु उत्क्रममाणेषुatra hi jantoḥ prāṇeṣu utkramamāṇeṣufor here, when a being's breaths are departing
रुद्रः तारकं ब्रह्म व्याचष्टेrudraḥ tārakaṃ brahma vyācaṣṭeRudra explains the ferrying brahman
येन असौ अमृती-भूत्वाyena asau amṛtī-bhūtvāby which he, having become immortal
मोक्षी भवतिmokṣī bhavatibecomes liberated
Translation
«For here, when a being's breaths are departing, Rudra explains the ferrying brahman, by which he, having become immortal, becomes liberated».
Version
891c4d8d1c02 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is named that for whose sake the book was written: tāraka brahma, "the ferrying brahman," that is, the tāraka-mantra. The word tāraka is from tṛ, "to cross over, to ferry"; from the same root come tīrtha, "ford," and avatāra, "descent." Tāraka is that by which one is ferried across.
It is worth examining also the circumstance under which this is imparted: prāṇeṣu utkramamāṇeṣu, "when the breaths are departing," that is, at the hour of death. Tradition has it that Śiva himself whispers the ferrying mantra into the ear of one dying in Kāśī. We met this in the Bhasma-jābāla (2.62), where Śiva takes the dead man on his lap and speaks the mantra to him; and it was said there that this is the strongest point in that book.
Let us repeat the conclusion, for it is the same here. The recipient does nothing: he is dying. And so what is given him is pure grace, not payment.
The Vaiṣṇava side accepted this position and developed it, but added to it one condition worth mentioning. The Gītā says: "whatever state a person remembers at the time of departure, leaving the body, that alone he attains, having always been absorbed in that state" (8.6). And it explains right there why this is so: sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ, "having always been filled with that state."
That is, at the hour of death what is remembered is what a person lived by; and so the Gītā does not advise relying on the last minute, but says: "at all times remember Me" (8.7). There is no contradiction with the promise given here, but there is a correction: help in the last hour is promised, and one cannot rely on it as a calculation.