उपनिषद् · Pañcabrahma p2
॥
देवनागरी
अघोर इति । किं भगव इति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
aghora iti | kiṃ bhagava iti
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अघोरः इतिaghoraḥ iti"Aghora"
किं भगवः इतिkiṃ bhagavaḥ iti"what [else], Lord?"
अनुवाद
"— 'Aghora.' — 'What [else], Lord?'"
संस्करण
3fa24c275830 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The second face is named: Aghora, "the not-terrible," from a-ghora, "not-fearsome." This name is worth examining, for it is built as a warding-off of threat. Ghora means "fearsome, terrible, dread"; and Rudra in the ancient hymns is precisely so: he shoots, he sends diseases, he is entreated not to be angry. The famous Vedic cry to him goes: "look upon us not with that form of yours which is terrible."
And here one of the five faces is called not-terrible. This device in naming is well known and is called in Vaiṣṇava tradition "propitiatory": the fearsome is called by an endearing name to ward off harm. Thus a bear is called "master," and smallpox "little mother."
But there is something else here too, and it is more essential. A negative name asserts that dreadfulness is not his essence: he is dreadful at times, but he is not dreadfulness itself. The Vaiṣṇava side makes this distinction foundational and states it of punishment in general. The Bhāgavatam says of the demons slain by the Lord that they received a boon; and of His very wrath it is said that it is kṛpā, mercy, having taken a dreadful form.
Let us add what follows from this and is worth keeping. If dreadfulness is an appearance and not an essence, then one should fear one's own position, not Him; and every fear directed at God Himself is, by this reckoning, a misunderstanding.