奥义书 · Pañcabrahma p2
॥
天城文
अघोर इति । किं भगव इति
转写 (IAST)
aghora iti | kiṃ bhagava iti
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梵语IAST释义
अघोरः इतिaghoraḥ iti"Aghora"
किं भगवः इतिkiṃ bhagavaḥ iti"what [else], Lord?"
译文
"— 'Aghora.' — 'What [else], Lord?'"
版本
3fa24c275830 · 发布于 2026年8月12日 05:00:00 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
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.