ॐ त्र्य॑ म्बकं यजामहे सु॒गन्धिं॑ पु ष्टि॒वर्ध॑ नम् । उ॒ र्वा॒रु॒कमि॑ व॒ बन्ध॑ नान् मृ॒ त्योर्मु॑ क्षीय॒ माऽमृ ता॑॑त् ।।
“We worship the three-eyed One, who is fragrant and who nourishes all. Like the fruit falls
off from the bondage of the stem, may we be liberated from death, from mortality?”
The rig veda 1.164.46 mentions supreme being is only one, and he bears all the names.
इन्द्रं॑ मि॒ तर् ं वरु॑ णम॒ग्निमा॑ हु॒रथो॑ दि॒व्यः स सु ॑ प॒र्णो ग॒ रुत्मा॑न् । एकं॒ सद्विप्रा॑ बहु॒धा व॑दन्त्य॒ ग्निं य॒ मं
मा॑त॒रिश्वा॑नमाहुः ॥४६॥
The Taittiriya aranyaka of Yajur veda 4.10.13 says :
नारायणन परं ब्रह्म तत्त्वं नारायणन पर:,
नारायणन पारो ज्योतिरात्मा नारायणन पर:।
नारायणन परो ध्यानाता ध्यानम नारायणन पर:।
The Lord Narayana is the Supreme Absolute; Narayana is the Supreme Reality ;
Narayana is the Supreme Light; Narayana is the Supreme Self; Narayana is the Supreme
Meditator; Narayana is the Supreme Meditation.
The Rig veda mentions the fact that God Narayana alone is this supreme being, who assigns
the names to all Gods :
यो नं पिता जनता यो विधाता धमानी वे द भु वननिविश्व |
यो दे वनां नमदा एक एव तां सम्प्रनं भुवन यं तन्या ||10.82.3
"Father who made us, he who, as Disposer, knoweth all races and all things existing, Even he
alone, the Deities' narne-giver ,him other beings seek for information."
This is repeated in Yajur veda also :
"He who is our father, our begetter, the ordainer, Who begot us from being unto
being , Who alone assigneth their names to the gods, Him other beings approach for
knowledge. Wealth they won by offering to him The seers of old like singers in abundance,
They who fashioned these beings illumined and unillumined .In the expanse of space."
(Taittiriya samhita 4.6.2)
It talks of How creation rested on the Unborn's (Narayana's) navel in Rig veda 10.81-82 and
How Brahma emerged from his navel and created the universe as per yajur veda taittiriya
samhita 4.6.2. Moreover, Sri adi shankaracharya confirmed that Visvakarma of Vedas is Lord
Nārāyana, In his Vishnu sahasrnam bhasya, under the name “Padmanabha”. It is again
mentioned how all Gods are children of Mahalakshmi (Bhu devi) and Narayana (prajapati) :
"This was in the beginning the waters, the ocean. In it Prajapati becoming the wind moved.
He saw her, and becoming a boar he seized her. Her, becoming Viçvakarma, he wiped. She
extended, she became the earth, and hence the earth is called the earth (lit. 'the extended').
In her Prajapati (vishnu) made effort. He produced the Gods, vasus, Rudras and
adityas. The gods said to Prajapati, 'Let us have offspring.' He said [1], 'As I have created
you by penance, so seek ye offspring in penance.' (yajur ved, Taittirya Samhita, 7.1.5)
Hence, Its a proven fact that Narayana is the one who gave Birth and Gave names to all
Gods, which were his own originally.
Tryambaka or the “Three eyed one”
The Narasimha kavach from brahmanda Puran, as recited by Bhaktshiromani Prahalad says :
विवृ तास्यं त्रिनयनं शरदिन्दुसमप्रभम् । लक्ष्म्यालिङ्गितवामाङ्गं विभूतिभिरुपाश्रितम् ॥ ३॥
“His mouth is wide open, He has three eyes, and He is as radiant as the autumn moon . He
is embraced by LakShmIdevI on his left side, and His form is the shelter of all opulences,
both material and spiritual.”
the Linga Puran also talks about the Three eyes of the Supreme being Lord narasimha :
which is reflected in The Narasimha Tapniye upanishad also :
"He is "Maha Vishnu", because he pervades in all the worlds and makes all the world
pervade, similar to the fatty gum that spreads in all meat, from this side to that and also
from other side to this side. There is nothing in the world that is not him. He is pervading in
all things in the world. He is the leader of all souls. Worship of souls is His worship. He
exists in all the three shining things viz. Moon, Sun and fire."
further, The Panchmukhi Hanuman armour from Sri Sudarshan samhita, too says How Each
face of Lord anjaneya, which includes Narasimha mukh also, has got Three eyes :
न्दी वानर नरसिं ह खगरां | कृष्णवाव वक् रनवित: ||
नानालं करण: त्रिपं चनायन: | दीदीप्यमानम्रुका हस्ताबजै रशिक्षा ||
पु स्ताक सु धाकुंभनकुषाद्रिन हलं | खत्वं गम फनि भृ हं क दशभु जं ||
सरवरी गर्भपहं | सरवरी गर्भपहं ||
“Prostrations to Hanuman who has five faces viz., vanara (monkey), narasimha (man-
lion), garuda (eagle), varaha (boar), and ashva (horse headed Hayagriva); who is decorated
with many types of ornaments, who has fifteen eyes which shine brilliantly; who holds in
his ten hands – sword, shield, book, pot of nectar, goad (javelin), mountain, plough, leg of a
cot, a snake and a tree; who takes away the pride of every enemy; who takes away the pride
of every enemy”.
so without a doubt, “Tryambaka” can refer to Lord Narasimha also.
Freedom from death
There are many refernces in the shastras of The Gods or devotees praying to Lord
Narasimha for protection from death. The famous story of Maharishi Markandeya defeating
Death is well known to be by the Grace of Lord Narasimha swamy, as said in the Narasimha
Puran. Let us see the story from the puran. (important : The narasimha puran is an Up-
puran, but that doesn't Affects its authenticty as It has been quoted by Adi
shankaracharya and even Vaishnav acharyas plenty of times ; hence it's authority is
undeniable)
The story is found in the chapter 7. As per the Puran, he was the son of Devi sumitra and
sage Mrkandu and the Grandson of sags bhrigu. A well known astrologer had predicted his
death at a young age of 12 years, which shocked his parents. Young markandeya promised
his parents that he will conquer death one day and Approached his grandfather, who
advised him to Worship Lord Narayana (Lord narasimha more accurately) inorder to achieve
the same. As advised by maharishi bhrigu, He went the mountain Sahaya, near the
tungabhadra river, Established an image of Lord narayana there, and began reciting the
tweleve letter hym i.e Om namo bhagvate Vasudevaye. He was deeply immersed in the
Thoughts of the almighty Lord, when the Represtatives of Lord yama i.e Yamdoots came
around, inorder to take him away, but they were Beaten up by The Representatives of
Bhagavan Narayana and had to flee. After that, Lord yama himself had to descend, but even
he couldn't Go near maharishi markandeya owing to the Vishnudoots, who were Ever-Ready
to slaughter Lord yama along with his attendents. Maharishi markandeya Began reciting
Pslam of Lord Vishnu and that coupled with the thrashing given by Vishnu doots compelled
Lord yama to leave the Spot, and thus maharishi markandeya conquered death with the
grace of Lord Narayana. The Stotram which he had recited, was called the mritunjaya
stotram which was preached by the Lord himself.
The narasimha Tapniye upanishad mentions how Brahma deva taught the Ugra narasimha
mantra to the Gods, after which they won over death. Here's the snippet :
"Devas were afraid of death, sins and family life. They approached Praja Pathi. He told them
about the Narasimha Mantra which was “the King of all Mantras” written in Anushtup
meter. Because of this, they won victory over death . They won over all sins and also
destroyed the problems of family life. So any of those who are afraid of death, sins and
family life, should get themselves taught the “Narasimha Mantra” which is called “the King
of Mantras” and which is written in anushtup meter."
This is further elaborated as :
"He is called "Mruthyu-Mruthyum [death and deathlessness]" because just by mere thought
of His devotees, he destroys death and untimely death to them. He is one who gives the
knowledge of the soul and also one who gives strength. All devas bow before Him and
praise Him. Let us satisfy Him by offering Him "Havis-food" through the fire sacrifice
because even his shadow is nectar and he is the death which destroys death."
He is the kal of kal, hence Lord narasimha is also called "mahakala".
महे श्वर: “Rudra”
The rig veda doesn't mentions Anything specifically as to who is the "Tryambaka" here, but
on visiting the Taittiriya samhita, we find It has been given to the Deity named "Rudra" and
as already told, The Supreme being Is the one who is the beholder of all names, which
includes Indra, Vishnu, rudra, Visvakarma, Purusha, skamba, agni etc. In the Very beginning
of the Narasimha Tapniye upanishad, He (Lord narasimha) has been addresses by names like
Shankar and pinaki :
"Bhagawan Narasimha who is partly human and partly lion shines as Parabrahma with Rutha
(discipline of the visible world) and Sathya (basic truth). He appears with two colours viz.
black and golden red. His nature is to go up and he has a very terrible and fearsome stare
but he is a "Sankara" doing good to people. He is called " neel lohtia(He who is red and
black)" because his neck is black and the top of it is red. In another of his aspects he
is Umapati(Lord of fame) and pashupati(Lord of all beings). He is Called Pinaki, He is the
god of all knowledge. He is god of all beings. He is the Lord of all Vedas. He is the boss of
Brahma and He is praised by Yajur Veda. One should know the praise of Sama Veda of him."
In his Prayers to Lord Narasimha, Maharishi Markandeya addresses him with names like
“Rudra”, “mahadeva” in the chapter 11 of Narasimha Puran :
Sambhu :
जय सुद
ं र पद्माभ जय सुद
ं रीवल्लभ:
ं रसर्वांग जय वंद्य नमो 'स्तु ते '
जय सुद
शंकर:
जय शंकर दे वेश जय श्री नमो 'स्तु ते '
जय कुष्कुमारकताभा जय पंकजलोकनं
सर्व:
जय दे व जयजय जय सत्य जयाक्षरं
जय काल जयशान जय सर्व नमो स्तु ते :
शिवा/भु वने श्वर :
नमं कृष्णाय नमः चक् रायु ध्याय चं
नमं शिवाय दे वय नमस ते भु वने श्वरं
महादे व:
प्रसाद सु भागकांता प्रसाद भु वनाधिप:
प्रसादद्य महादे व प्रसाद मम केशव :
Further, Sri Narada Puran also elaborates on this :
“Nilakantha” and “pinaki”
श्रीमन्नीकेसरितनो जगदे कबं धो श्रीनिलकण्ठ करुणान्रवे समरजा ।
वाह्नदुतिवरकरने तर् पिनाकपाने शताशु शेखर रामे श्वर पाहि विष्णौ // (श्री नारद पु राण, १.७१.१३९)
Lord Narasimha prayed by “Namah shivaya”
Where saraba is also his name as per The Vishnu sahasranam. Hence, The names like
Rudra, mahesvara, shiva, shankara, Nilakantha etc Can denote Lord Narasimha also.
All names and portions in Vedas like Sri Rudram are of Lord Narasimha. Lord Narasimha is
glorified with names like Shiva, Mahadeva, Umapati, and Pashupati etc in Narsimha
Tapaniya upanishad (It is not a later added Upanishad. It is quoted by Sri Vedant Desikan in
his Kamashiksashtakam and by Adi Shankara also in his Brihad aranayak Upanishad
bhashya). Sripada Madhvacharya in his Brahma Sutra bhashya quotes a statement from
Brahmand Puran that how all names like Rudra, Mahadeva,Shiva etc are of Lord Vishnu only.
According to Padma Tantra 1.2.31, Lord Narsimha is Lord Sankarshan himself. Same is said
in Vishnu dharmottar Puran 3.78.5 that Lord Narsimha is manifestation of Sankarshan.
According to Srimad Bhagavatam 5.17.16- Lord Shiva always meditates on Sankarshan in his
Samadhi. Since, Sankarshan is Narasimha Swamy himself , that's why Lord Shiva is
meditation on Narsimha who is his own cause. This is further substantiated by Garuda Puran
section CCXLI that Lord Shiva mediates on Lord Narsimha. Since Lord Shiva mediates on
Lord Narsimha, that's why he got the names which were originally of Narsimha. Which
means in the beginning all the names which Shiva bears were of Narasimha alone! Since
Shiva mediates on Narsimha (who is sankarshan) in his Samadhi, that's why he acquired
qualities and got the names like Pashupati, Shiva, Mahadev which are originally of Lord
narayana.
