Runa Vimochana Narasimha Mantra
ॐ नमो भगवते नृसिंहाय ऋणविमोचनाय नमःIn Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.
Who Runa Vimochana Narasimha is
Runa Vimochana Narasimha is the aspect of the man-lion avatara in which Vishnu is addressed under the precise epithet that names him the loosener of ṛṇa. In classical Vaishnava usage ṛṇa signifies far more than a ledger of money owed; it comprises the triple obligation incurred simply by taking birth—debt to the gods for the sustaining elements, to the sages for knowledge, and to the ancestors for the body itself. Temple traditions of Ahobilam, Simhachalam and the scattered Narasimha shrines of the Tamil and Telugu countries isolate this name as a distinct liturgical focus. Iconographically the form remains the Ugra Narasimha who burst from the pillar, yet the mantra literature treats the vimochana quality as the governing note of the invocation. The Ṛṇa-Vimocana-Nṛsiṃha Stotra of the Nṛsiṃha Purāṇa presents the compound Runa-Vimochana as a complete theological claim: the same Lord who ended Hiranyakashipu’s tyranny is the one who unbinds the residual claims that accompany embodied existence.
Pillar and twilight threshold
The Bhagavata Purana, seventh skandha, narrates the conditions that made the Narasimha form necessary. Hiranyakashipu had obtained a boon that he should die neither by day nor night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither by man nor beast, neither on earth nor in the sky. When the demon struck the palace pillar and challenged the omnipresence of Vishnu, the Lord emerged at the exact junction of day and night, seated the tyrant upon his thighs at the threshold, and tore him with nails that were neither weapon nor bare hand. Prahlada, whose steadfastness had provoked the ordeal, was left unharmed. Later commentarial and stotra traditions read this episode as the archetype of release from an unpayable debt: the devotee’s life had been held in forfeit under a claim that no ordinary agency could discharge. The Runa Vimochana address therefore recalls not a separate incarnation but the same twilight intervention contemplated under the specific aspect of unbinding. South Indian recensions of the Narasimha Tapaniya material and the vernacular retellings that accompany the stotra keep the Prahlada narrative as the narrative ground of the name.
The mantra, in six scripts
The name mantra, and the form most devotees chant daily. No initiation is required — it is open to anyone, including a parent chanting for a child.
- ॐ
- oṃ — the sacred syllable
- नमो
- namo — salutation
- भगवते
- bhagavate — to the Blessed Lord
- नृसिंहाय
- nṛsiṃhāya — to Narasimha
- ऋणविमोचनाय
- ṛṇavimocanāya — to the loosener of ṛṇa
- नमः
- namaḥ — salutation
More Runa Vimochana Narasimha mantras
Runa Vimochana Narasimha Stotra, Verse 1
The verse of salutation, recited before or after japa.
- देवताकार्यसिद्ध्यर्थं
- devatākāryasiddhyarthaṃ — to accomplish the work of the gods
- सभास्तम्भसमुद्भवम्
- sabhāstambhasamudbhavam — who sprang from the pillar of the assembly hall
- श्रीनृसिंहं
- śrīnṛsiṃhaṃ — Sri Narasimha
- महावीरं
- mahāvīraṃ — the great hero
- नमामि
- namāmi — I bow to
- ऋणमुक्तये
- ṛṇamuktaye — for release from debt
Source: Runa Vimochana (Rinamochana) Narasimha Stotra, verse 1; sanskritdocuments' colophon assigns it to the Nrisimha Purana, shlokam.org to Vadiraja Tirtha.
The syllable people get wrong
The vocalic ṛ that opens ṛṇavimocanāya is a single syllabic liquid, produced with the tongue-tip slightly curled and no intervening vowel. Speakers almost always insert an i-glide and say “rina-vimochana,” adding a vowel the word does not have and erasing the compact Vedic sound the mantra requires.
When Runa Vimochana Narasimha is chanted
Weekday. Thursday
Festival. Narasimha Jayanti
Questions
Have your chart read before you decide
Chanting is yours to do, and free. But which deity your situation calls for — and whether a mantra alone is the right response — depends on your chart. Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.
- Over 30 years in the Guru–Sishya Parampara, from the age of five
- He reads every chart himself — 60 minutes, one to one, never delegated
- Charts are read only between sunrise and sunset, following tradition
Related
Chanting is yours to do. Some things are performed for you.
Where a matter carries real weight, devotees sponsor the homa alongside their own practice. Performed for you and any family members you name, at our Yagna Ashram, in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your chart, and telecast live so you can watch it done for you.