taraka
तारक tārakaThe 'ferryboat' or crossing mantra that Shiva is said to whisper to the dying at Kashi, carrying the soul across the ocean of rebirth (from the root tṛ, 'to cross'); the tradition fixes its saving function, while its exact wording varies, most often given as the name of Rama and sometimes as Om.
Where this term appears
- Who is Murugan? Deities
The gods are being destroyed by a demon, Taraka in the Sanskrit sources, Surapadma in the Tamil, who holds a boon that he can be killed only by a son of Shiva.
- Who is Parvati? Deities
The demon Taraka can be killed by no one except a son of Shiva, and Shiva is in samadhi , absorbed meditation, and has been for a very long time, and is not looking at anything.
- The city in the mirror Treatise
Everything in these chapters, the trident and the taraka, the Doms and the ghats, the Aghori and the pandit, the four faiths and the burning fire, is a description of a living thing by someone standing, in the …
- The city of Rama Treatise
It is the taraka whispered to the dying, and it is the Hanuman Chalisa sung by a frightened child at night.
- The city that will not die Treatise
…e doorway, where Shiva bends to the ear of the dying and whispers the taraka , the ferryboat mantra that carries the soul across.
- The daughter of the mountain Treatise
The taraka mantra ferries the soul across an ocean that is, in the tradition's images, this very river widened to the width of death.
- The good death Treatise
… keep, on the lips and in the ear, the name of God, the Ram-nam , the taraka whisper, repeated and repeated so that consciousness leaves the body riding on the holy name.
- The jewelled earring Treatise
…he greatest darshan , the final seeing and being seen, the moment the taraka mantra is whispered and the ferry pushes off.