देवा ह वै मृत्योः पाप्मभ्यः संसाराच्च बिभीयुस्ते प्रजापतिमुपाधावंस्तेभ्य एतं मन्त्रराजं नारसिंहमानुष्टुभं प्रायच्छत्तेन वै ते मृत्युमजयन् पाप्मानं चातरन्संसारं चातरंस्तस्माद्यो मृत्योः पाप्मभ्यः संसाराच्च बिभीयात्स एतं मन्त्रराजं नारसिंहमानुष्टुभं प्रतिगृह्णीयात्स मृत्युं तरति स पाप्मानं तरति स संसारं तरति
devā ha vai mṛtyoḥ pāpmabhyaḥ saṃsārācca bibhīyuste prajāpatimupādhāvaṃstebhya etaṃ mantrarājaṃ nārasiṃhamānuṣṭubhaṃ prāyacchattena vai te mṛtyumajayan pāpmānaṃ cātaransaṃsāraṃ cātaraṃstasmādyo mṛtyoḥ pāpmabhyaḥ saṃsārācca bibhīyātsa etaṃ mantrarājaṃ nārasiṃhamānuṣṭubhaṃ pratigṛhṇīyātsa mṛtyuṃ tarati sa pāpmānaṃ tarati sa saṃsāraṃ tarati
The gods grew afraid of death, of sins and of the round, and ran to Prajāpati; and he handed over to them this king of mantras, the Nārasiṃha, in the anuṣṭubh metre. By it they conquered death, crossed over sin and crossed over the round. Therefore whoever grows afraid of death, of sins and of the round, let him receive this king of mantras, the Nārasiṃha, in the anuṣṭubh metre: he crosses over death, crosses over sin, crosses over the round.
484f178f2d09 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 4:39:50 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The second Upaniṣad opens with fear, and this is worth noticing.
The gods took fright — bibhīyuḥ, from the root bhī. And at three things: death, sins and the round.
In all these books fear stands at the beginning of the turning. The third paragraph of the second chapter of the uttara-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī named outright what the tāraka ferries from: “from the great fear of the womb, of birth, of old age, of death and of the round”. Not from evil and not from suffering — from fear.
Then it is said what the gods did: upādhāvan, “they ran up, they streamed to”. A verb with the prefixes upa- and ā-: they ran up and fell down before him.
And Prajāpati did not teach them and did not explain — prāyacchat, “he handed over”. The mantra passes from hand to hand.
Then thrice tarati — “crosses over”: over death, over sin, over the round. The same verb as in the word tāraka, and the same count as at the paragraph's start.
Note the last word about man: pratigṛhṇīyāt — “let him receive”. Not “let him learn” and not “let him memorise”: receive, as one receives from hands.
The gods ran and received; man does the very same. The book makes no difference here between them and us.