[Advaita-l] An Upanishadic Advaitic Etymology for 'Nr-simha'

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 9:34 AM, Raghuraya Das <raghavadasa at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I really appreciate Mr. Subramanian's post.
>
> It appears there are many layers of meaning to the Narasimha Mantra.
> The mantra would seem to be not only a beautiful means to express
> devotion,
> but a profound philosophical meditation. May one repeat the mantra without
> formal diksha?
>

Dear Sri Das,

If you can utter the mantra without mistakes, you can pray before the
picture of your ishta devata or guru and commence chanting the mantra.

regards
subbu


>
> Shashi
>
> On Fri, Sep 22, 2017 at 5:42 AM, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> An excerpt from the book 'Yoga Enlightenment and Perfection': (Published
>> by
>> Sri Vidyatirtha Foundation, Chennai, and available as e-book  for free
>> download at:
>> https://www.sringeri.net/2015/10/03/affiliate-news/vidyathee
>> rtha-foundation/digital-version-of-the-book-yoga-
>> enlightenment-and-perfection.htm
>>
>> The Mantrarāja of Narasiṁha is:
>> ugraṁ vīraṁ mahāviṣṇuṁ jvalantaṁ sarvatomukham ।
>> nṛsiṁhaṁ bhīṣaṇaṁ bhadraṁ mṛtyumṛtyuṁ namāmyaham ॥3
>>
>> I salute Nṛsimha, the fierce, heroic, great one who pervades all
>> (Mahāviṣṇu), the lustrous one with faces everywhere, the fearsome one, the
>> auspicious one and the destroyer of death. Acharyal once told me, in 1976,
>> “Every word of this mantra is deeply significant. I shall illustrate this
>> by briefly considering three of the words. A term describing the Lord is
>> ‘jvalantaṁ’. That Narasiṁha is lustrous is a simple meaning. Consciousness
>> is the light of lights; but for it, no luminary like the sun or a lamp
>> would be visible. Narasiṁha ever shines as the light of consciousness.
>> This
>> is a deeper meaning.
>>
>> “Another term of the mantra is ‘sarvatomukhaḥ’. This literally means that
>> He has faces on all sides. The Upaniṣads teach that
>> though devoid of all organs, the Supreme grasps everything everywhere. In
>> this sense, Narasiṁha is ‘sarvatomukhaḥ’.
>> The mantra speaks of the Lord as ‘bhīṣaṇaṁ’. The word literally means,
>> ‘fearsome’. The Bhāgavata-purāṇa conveys that when
>> Narasiṁha slew Hiraṇyakaśipu and continued to be fierce, the devas and
>> even
>> Lakṣmī feared Him. The term fits the Lord in
>> another way too. The Supreme ordains and enforces order in the universe.
>> The laws of nature are His. It is said, ‘Out of fear of this One,
>> the wind blows. Out of fear of Him, the sun rises (Taittirīyaupaniṣad
>> 2.8).’ In this sense, Narasiṁha is ‘bhīṣaṇaḥ’. The
>> Nṛsiṁha-pūrvatāpanīya and Nṛsiṁha-uttaratāpanīya upaniṣads deal
>> extensively
>> with this mantra.”
>>
>>
>> Om Tat Sat
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 22, 2017 at 1:05 PM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
>> >
>> wrote:
>>
>> > An Upanishadic Advaitic Etymology for 'Nr-simha'
>> >
>> > The NrsimhaTāpinyupaniṣat has given an etymology to the terms
>> 'Nr-simha'.
>> > Shankara has brought out the purport of this etymology, which occurs as
>> > part of the famous Nrsimha Mantra Rāja:
>> >
>> > ॐ उग्रं वीरं महाविष्णुं ज्वलन्तं सर्वतोमुखम्।
>> > नृसिंहं भीषणं भद्रं मृत्युमृत्युं नमाम्यहम् ॥
>> >
>> > An article that brings out all this and also several other aspects
>> > important to Advaita, such as māyā-avidyā identity, is available here
>> for
>> > download:
>> >
>> > http://www.mediafire.com/file/d1va1ahtczbdd19/The_etymology_
>> > for_the_word_nrsimha_AAA.pdf
>> >
>> > regards
>> > subrahmanian.v
>> >
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>
>
>
> --
> "With my ears I'll hear no other story, and with my tongue I'll
> sing no other song
> I'll check my eyes from seeing aught else, and bow down my
> head before the Lord alone"
>