Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.6.27-29
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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viṣṇoḥ
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of Lord Viṣṇu
Genitive — 'of Viṣṇu.' The Lord whose name is the weapon. Gauḍīya doctrine: nāma is non-different from nāmī; therefore viṣṇoḥ nāma is Viṣṇu personally acting in sound.
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nāma - grahaṇa
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the chanting / taking of the name
Compound — nāma (name) + grahaṇa (taking, uttering). The technical phrase for harināma-kīrtana. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's whole mission rests on this verse-line: kṛṣṇa-nāma-grahaṇe sarva-pāpa nāśa — name-chanting destroys all demons and all sins.
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bhīravaḥ
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become afraid (lit. become afraid-ones)
Nominative plural of bhīru — fearful ones. The very classes of beings that cause fear are themselves declared afraid at the Name. The grammar reverses the ordinary direction of bhaya: the terrifier is now the terrified.
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deha - prāṇa - indriya
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(troublers of) body, life-air, and senses
Compound — deha + prāṇa + indriya. The Bhāgavata's standard tri-fold body-anatomy targeted by these forces. Each is also covered in 19–26 by a specific Lord — the verse's organization is consistent.
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arbhaka - grahāḥ
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(evil influences) attacking children
Compound — arbhaka (child) + graha (seizer). The Pūtanā-class. Bhāgavata names them not to dignify them but to dismiss them en bloc by the Name. Vaiṣṇava pastoral counsel: parents are taught to invoke viṣṇu-nāma over children precisely because these classes are real.
As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.33) : advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi “I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who is the original person — nondual, infallible, and without beginning. Although He expands into unlimited forms, He is still the original, and although He is the oldest person, He always appears as a fresh youth. Such eternal, blissful and all-knowing forms of the Lord cannot be understood by the academic wisdom of the Vedas, but they are always manifest to pure, unalloyed devotees.” While decorating the body with tilaka, we give protection to the body by chanting twelve names of Viṣṇu. Although Govinda, or Lord Viṣṇu, is one, He has different names and forms with which to act differently. But if one cannot remember all the names at one time, one may simply chant, “Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Viṣṇu,” and always think of Lord Viṣṇu. Viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param: this is the highest form of worship. If one remembers Viṣṇu always, even though one is disturbed by many bad elements, one can be protected without a doubt. The Āyurveda-śāstra recommends, auṣadhi cintayet viṣṇum: even while taking medicine, one should remember Viṣṇu, because the medicine is not all and all and Lord Viṣṇu is the real protector. The material world is full of danger ( padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām ). Therefore one must become a Vaiṣṇava and think of Viṣṇu constantly. This is made easier by the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam, and kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet.
This list should also include Carakīs and Jvālāmukhīs. Bāla-grahāḥ is repeated (arbhaka-grahāḥ) because children have intense fear of them. Some say that arbhaka-grahas are those who snatch living beings by taking the form of a child. These are a type of Piśāca.
- Begin the day by audibly chanting 'Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu' or the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra before reaching for your phone, planting His name as the first sound of your day.
- When anxiety, bad dreams, or intrusive thoughts arise, refuse to fight them mentally — instead chant Kṛṣṇa's name aloud and let the disturbance retreat on its own.
- While taking medicine, food, or any precaution today, remember auṣadhi cintayet viṣṇum — silently offer it to Viṣṇu, acknowledging Him as the real protector behind every remedy.
Listing Ḍākinīs, Yātudhānīs, Kuṣmāṇḍas, Bhūtas, Pretas, Piśācas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Vināyakas, Koṭarā, Revatī, Jyeṣṭhā, Pūtanā, Mātṛkās — and then declaring that Lord Viṣṇu's name vanquishes all of them — is the village notary reading out the long catalogue of debts before tearing the page in half. The list is exhaustive on purpose, so that no debt-collector can later say, 'But my kind was not named.' The Name covers all of them at once.
The fallen Ajāmila (SB 6.1–3), at the hour of death, called the name of his son Nārāyaṇa — and the Viṣṇudūtas appeared, scattering the Yamadūtas. The Yamadūtas' detailed list of his sins, like the Bhāgavata's list of grahas in 10.6.27–29, was real and accurate. The Name still trumped it.
The Bhāgavata in this chapter, in two registers — protective rakṣā for the infant Kṛṣṇa and pratimukti for the dying brāhmaṇa — teaches the same single fact: viṣṇoḥ nāma-grahaṇam empties every demon's catalogue.
Gauḍīya hagiography (Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya-līlā 3) records that when a beautiful prostitute was sent by an enemy to seduce Haridāsa Ṭhākura, she sat before him for three nights as he continued his three-lakh-name daily japa. The mātṛkā-form of māyā in feminine guise dissolved against the harināma; she ended as his disciple.
Verses 27–29 are the doctrinal basis for that pastime: viṣṇoḥ nāma-grahaṇa-bhīravaḥ — every disturbing form is afraid at the chanting of the Name.
My note
Source: vedabase.io