Lord Shiva Stotram – Shiva Mahimna Stotram
Meaning
Pushpadantha Virachitham
If it is unseemly to praise You when ignorant of the extent of’ Your greatness,
then even the praises of Brahma and others are inadequate. If no one can be
blamed when they praise You according to their intellectual powers, then my
attempt to compose a hymn cannot be reproached. || 1 ||
Your greatness is beyond the reach of mind and speech. Who can properly
praise that which even the Vedas describe with trepidation, by means of’ ‘netineti
/ not this, not this’? How many qualities does He possess? By whom can He
be perceived? Yet whose mind and speech do not turn to the form later taken
by Him (saguna) || 2 ||
O Brahman! Do even Brihaspati’s praises cause wonder to You, the author of
the nectar like sweet Vedas? 0 destroyer of the three cities, the thought that
by praising Your glories I shall purify my speech has prompted me to
undertake this work. || 3 ||
O Giver of boons! Some stupid people produce arguments–pleasing to the
ignorant but in fact hateful– to refute Your Divinity, which creates, preserves
and destroys the world, which is divided into three bodies (Brahma, Vishnu
and Shiva) according to the three gunas, and which is described in the three
Vedas. || 4 ||
To fulfill what desire, assuming what form, with what instruments, support and
material does that Creator create the three worlds? This kind of futile
argumentation about You whose divine nature is beyond the reach of intellect,
makes the perverted vociferous, and brings delusion to men. || 5 ||
O Lord of gods! Can the worlds be without origin, though they have bodies? Is
their creation possible without
a creator? Who else but God can initiate the
creation of the worlds? Because they are fools they raise doubts about Your
existence. || 6 ||
Different paths (to realization) arc enjoined by the three Vedas, by Sankhya,
Yoga, Pashupata (Shaiva) (doctrine and Vaishnava Shastras. People follow
different paths, straight or crooked, according to their temperament,
depending on which they consider best, or most appropriate–and reach You
alone just as rivers enter the ocean. || 7 ||
O Giver of boons! A great bull, a wooden hand rest, an axe, a tiger skin, ashes,
serpents, a human skull and other such things–these are all You own, though
simply by casting Your eyes on gods You gave them great treasures which
they enjoy. Indeed one whose delight is in the Self cannot be deluded by the
mirage of sense objects. || 8 ||
O Destroyer of the demon Pura, some say that the whole universe is eternal
while others say that all is transitory.
Others still, hold that it is eternal and
non-eternal — having different characteristics. Bewildered by all this, I do not
feel ashamed to praise You; indeed my loquacity is an indication of my
boldness. || 9 ||
O Girisha, when You took the form of a pillar of fire, Brahma trying from above
and Vishnu trying from below failed to measure You. Afterwards, when they
praised You with great faith and devotion, You revealed yourself to them of
Your own accord; does not surrender to You bear fruit? || 10 ||
O Destroyer of Tripura, it was because of that great devotion, which prompted
him to offer his heads as lotuses to Your feet, that the ten-headed Ravana was
still with arms and eager for fresh war after he had effortlessly rid the three
worlds of all traces of enemies. || 11 ||
But when he (Ravana) extended the valour of his arms-whose strength was
obtained by worshipping You- to Kailas, Your abode, You moved the tip of
Your toe, and he did not find a resting place even in the nether world. Truly,
when affluent the wicked become deluded. || 12 ||
O Giver of boons, since Bana was the worshipper of Your feet is it to be
wondered at that he had the three worlds at his command and put to shame
the wealth of Indra? What prosperity does not come from bowing down the
head to You? || 13 ||
O Three-Eyed One, who drank poison out of compassion for gods and demons
when they were distraught at the sudden prospect of the destruction of the
universe, surely the dark blue stain on Your throat has beautified You. Even
deformity is to be admired in one who is given to freeing the world of fear. ||
14 ||
O Lord, the god of love, whose arrows never fail in the world of gods and men,
become nothing but an object of memory because he looked on You as an
ordinary god (his body being burnt by Your look of wrath). An insult to the selfcontrolled
is not conducive to good. || 15 ||
When You danced to save the world, the earth was suddenly thrown into a
precarious state at the striking of Your feet; the spatial regions and the hosts
of stars felt oppressed by the movement of Your massive club-like arms; and
the heavens became miserable as their sides were constantly struck by Your
waving matted hair. Indeed it is Your very mightiness which is the cause of the
trouble. || 16 ||
The river which pervades the sky and whose foam crests look all the more
beautiful because of stars and planets, seems no more than a drop of water
when on Your head. That same river has turned the world into islands
surrounded by waters. From this can be judged vastness of Your divine body.
|| 17 ||
When You wanted to burn the three cities of the demons – which were but a
piece of straw to You–the earth was Your chariot, Brahma Your charioteer, the
great mountain Meru Your bow, the sun and the moon the wheels of Your
chariot, Vishnu Your arrow. Why all this paraphernalia? The Lord is not
dependent on others. He was only playing with things at His command. || 18
||
O Destroyer of the three cities, Hari rooted out His own lotus-eye to make up
the difference when one flower was missing in His offering of 1,000 lotuses to
Your feet. For this great devotion You awarded the discus (Sudarshan Chakra)
~ with which Hari protects the three worlds. || 19 ||
When a sacrifice has ended, You ever keep awake to bestow its fruit on the
sacrificer. How can any action bear fruit if not accompanied by worship of You,
0 Lord? Therefore, knowing You to be the Giver of fruits of sacrifices and
putting faith in the Vedas, people become resolute about the performance of
sacrificial acts. || 20 ||
O Giver of refuge, even that sacrifice where Daksha, the Lord of creation and
expert in sacrifices, was the sacrificer, rishis were priests, gods participants,
was destroyed by You who are habitually the Giver of fruits of sacrifices.
Surely sacrifices cause injury to the sacrificers in the absence of faith and
devotion. || 21 ||
O Lord, the fury of You who became a hunter with a bow in hand has not as
yet left Brahma who, overcome by incestuous lust and finding his own
daughter transforming herself into a hind, desired to ravish her in the body of
a stag and keenly pierced by Your arrows, he (Brahma) has fled to the sky ||
22 ||
O Destroyer of the three cities, 0 Giver of boons, is Parvati who saw the god of
love, bow in hand, burnt like a piece of straw in a minute by You, still proud of
her beauty and believing that You are fascinated by her, because she was
allowed to occupy half Your body because of her austerities? Ah, surely all
women are under delusion. You have completely conquered Your senses. ||
23 ||
O Destroyer of the god of love, 0 Giver of boons, Your play is in cremation
grounds, Your companions are ghosts, You smear Your body with the ashes of
burnt bodies, human skulls are Your garland-all Your conduct is indeed
inauspicious. But You promote the greatest good of those who remember
You. || 24 ||
You are indeed that inexpressible Truth which the yogis realize within through
concentrating their minds on the Self and controlling the breath according to
the directions laid down in the scriptures, and realizing which Truth they
experience rapturous thrills and shed profuse tears of joy; swimming as it
were in a pool of nectar they enjoy inner bliss. || 25 ||
The wise hold this limiting view of You: You are the sun, You are the moon, You
are fire, You are air, You are water, You are space, You are the earth and You
are the Self. But we do not know the things which You are not. || 26 ||
O Giver of refuge, with the three letters A, U, M, indicating the three Vedas,
three states, three worlds and the three gods, the word AUM(Om) describes
You separately. By its subtle sound the word Om collectively denotes You –
Your absolute transcendental state which is free from change. || 27 ||
O Lord! Bhava, Sharva, Rudra, Pashupati, Ugra, Mahadeva, Bhima, and Ishanathese
eight names of Yours are each treated in detail in the Vedas. To You,
most beloved Lord Shankara, of resplendent form, I offer salutations. || 28 ||
O Lover of solitude, my salutations to You who are the nearest and the
farthest. 0 Destroyer of the god of love, my salutations to You who are the
minutest and also the largest. 0 Three-eyed one, my salutations to You who
are the oldest and also the youngest. My salutations to You again and again
who are all and also transcending all. || 29 ||
Salutations to You as Brahma in whom rajas prevails for the creation of the
universe. Salutations to You as Rudra in whom tamas prevails for its
destruction. Salutations to You as Vishnu in whom sattva prevails for giving
happiness to the people. Salutations to You, 0 Shiva, who are effulgent and
beyond the three attributes. || 30 ||
O Giver of boons, how poor is my ill-developed mind, subject to afflictions, and
how boundless Your divinity- Eternal and possessing infinite virtues. Though
terror–stricken because of this, I am inspired by my devotion to offer this
hymnal garland at Your feet. || 31 ||
O Lord, if the black mountain be ink, the ocean the inkpot, the branch of the
stout wish-fulfilling tree a pen, the earth the writing leaf, and if taking these
the Goddess of Learning writes for eternity, even then the limit of Your virtues
will not be reached. || 32 ||
The best of Gandharvas, Pushpadanta by name, composed in great devotion
this beautiful hymn to the Lord, who is worshipped by demons, gods, and the
best of sages, whose praises have been sung, who has the moon on His
forehead, and who is attributeless. || 33 ||
The person who with purified heart and in great devotion always reads this
beautiful and elevating hymn to Shiva, becomes like Shiva (after death) in the
abode of Shiva, and while in this world gets abundant wealth, long life,
progeny and fame. || 34 ||
There is no God higher than Shiva, there is no hymn better than the hymn on
the greatness of Shiva, there is no mantra more powerful than the name of
Shiva, there is nothing higher to be known than the real nature of the Guru.
|| 35 ||
Initiation into spiritual life, charities, austerities, pilgrimages, practice of yoga,
performance of sacrificial rites – none of these give even a sixteenth part of
the merit that one gets by reciting the hymn on the greatness of Shiva. || 36
||
The Lord of Gandharvas, Pushpadanta by name, is the servant of the God of
gods who has the crescent moon on his forehead. Fallen from his glory due to
the wrath of the Lord, he composed this very beautiful uplifting hymn on the greatness of Shiva to regain His favor. || 37 ||
If one with single-minded devotion and folded palms reads this unfailing hymn
composed by Pushpadanta, which is adored by great gods and the best of
sages and which grants heaven and liberation, one goes to Shiva and is
worshipped by Kinnaras (celestial beings). || 38 ||
Thus ends this unparalleled sacred hymn composed by Pushpadanta and
describing the glory of God Shiva in a most fascinating manner. || 39 ||
This hymn worship is offered at the feet of Shiva. May the ever beneficent Lord
of gods be pleased with me at this! || 40 ||
I do not know the truth of your nature and who you are- O great God my
salutations to your true nature. || 41 ||
Whoever reads this once, twice or thrice (in a day) revels in the domain of
Shiva, bereft of all sins. || 42 ||
If a person learns by heart and recites this hymn, which flowed from the lotus
mouth of Pushpadanta, which destroys sins and is dear to Shiva and which
equally promotes the good of all, Shiva, the Lord of creation, becomes very
pleased. || 43 ||
thus ends the hymn called – “Shiva Mahimna Stotra”
Meaning
Pushpadantha Virachitham
If it is unseemly to praise You when ignorant of the extent of’ Your greatness,
then even the praises of Brahma and others are inadequate. If no one can be
blamed when they praise You according to their intellectual powers, then my
attempt to compose a hymn cannot be reproached. || 1 ||
Your greatness is beyond the reach of mind and speech. Who can properly
praise that which even the Vedas describe with trepidation, by means of’ ‘netineti
/ not this, not this’? How many qualities does He possess? By whom can He
be perceived? Yet whose mind and speech do not turn to the form later taken
by Him (saguna) || 2 ||
O Brahman! Do even Brihaspati’s praises cause wonder to You, the author of
the nectar like sweet Vedas? 0 destroyer of the three cities, the thought that
by praising Your glories I shall purify my speech has prompted me to
undertake this work. || 3 ||
O Giver of boons! Some stupid people produce arguments–pleasing to the
ignorant but in fact hateful– to refute Your Divinity, which creates, preserves
and destroys the world, which is divided into three bodies (Brahma, Vishnu
and Shiva) according to the three gunas, and which is described in the three
Vedas. || 4 ||
To fulfill what desire, assuming what form, with what instruments, support and
material does that Creator create the three worlds? This kind of futile
argumentation about You whose divine nature is beyond the reach of intellect,
makes the perverted vociferous, and brings delusion to men. || 5 ||
O Lord of gods! Can the worlds be without origin, though they have bodies? Is
their creation possible without
a creator? Who else but God can initiate the
creation of the worlds? Because they are fools they raise doubts about Your
existence. || 6 ||
Different paths (to realization) arc enjoined by the three Vedas, by Sankhya,
Yoga, Pashupata (Shaiva) (doctrine and Vaishnava Shastras. People follow
different paths, straight or crooked, according to their temperament,
depending on which they consider best, or most appropriate–and reach You
alone just as rivers enter the ocean. || 7 ||
O Giver of boons! A great bull, a wooden hand rest, an axe, a tiger skin, ashes,
serpents, a human skull and other such things–these are all You own, though
simply by casting Your eyes on gods You gave them great treasures which
they enjoy. Indeed one whose delight is in the Self cannot be deluded by the
mirage of sense objects. || 8 ||
O Destroyer of the demon Pura, some say that the whole universe is eternal
while others say that all is transitory.
Others still, hold that it is eternal and
non-eternal — having different characteristics. Bewildered by all this, I do not
feel ashamed to praise You; indeed my loquacity is an indication of my
boldness. || 9 ||
O Girisha, when You took the form of a pillar of fire, Brahma trying from above
and Vishnu trying from below failed to measure You. Afterwards, when they
praised You with great faith and devotion, You revealed yourself to them of
Your own accord; does not surrender to You bear fruit? || 10 ||
O Destroyer of Tripura, it was because of that great devotion, which prompted
him to offer his heads as lotuses to Your feet, that the ten-headed Ravana was
still with arms and eager for fresh war after he had effortlessly rid the three
worlds of all traces of enemies. || 11 ||
But when he (Ravana) extended the valour of his arms-whose strength was
obtained by worshipping You- to Kailas, Your abode, You moved the tip of
Your toe, and he did not find a resting place even in the nether world. Truly,
when affluent the wicked become deluded. || 12 ||
O Giver of boons, since Bana was the worshipper of Your feet is it to be
wondered at that he had the three worlds at his command and put to shame
the wealth of Indra? What prosperity does not come from bowing down the
head to You? || 13 ||
O Three-Eyed One, who drank poison out of compassion for gods and demons
when they were distraught at the sudden prospect of the destruction of the
universe, surely the dark blue stain on Your throat has beautified You. Even
deformity is to be admired in one who is given to freeing the world of fear. ||
14 ||
O Lord, the god of love, whose arrows never fail in the world of gods and men,
become nothing but an object of memory because he looked on You as an
ordinary god (his body being burnt by Your look of wrath). An insult to the selfcontrolled
is not conducive to good. || 15 ||
When You danced to save the world, the earth was suddenly thrown into a
precarious state at the striking of Your feet; the spatial regions and the hosts
of stars felt oppressed by the movement of Your massive club-like arms; and
the heavens became miserable as their sides were constantly struck by Your
waving matted hair. Indeed it is Your very mightiness which is the cause of the
trouble. || 16 ||
The river which pervades the sky and whose foam crests look all the more
beautiful because of stars and planets, seems no more than a drop of water
when on Your head. That same river has turned the world into islands
surrounded by waters. From this can be judged vastness of Your divine body.
|| 17 ||
When You wanted to burn the three cities of the demons – which were but a
piece of straw to You–the earth was Your chariot, Brahma Your charioteer, the
great mountain Meru Your bow, the sun and the moon the wheels of Your
chariot, Vishnu Your arrow. Why all this paraphernalia? The Lord is not
dependent on others. He was only playing with things at His command. || 18
||
O Destroyer of the three cities, Hari rooted out His own lotus-eye to make up
the difference when one flower was missing in His offering of 1,000 lotuses to
Your feet. For this great devotion You awarded the discus (Sudarshan Chakra)
~ with which Hari protects the three worlds. || 19 ||
When a sacrifice has ended, You ever keep awake to bestow its fruit on the
sacrificer. How can any action bear fruit if not accompanied by worship of You,
0 Lord? Therefore, knowing You to be the Giver of fruits of sacrifices and
putting faith in the Vedas, people become resolute about the performance of
sacrificial acts. || 20 ||
O Giver of refuge, even that sacrifice where Daksha, the Lord of creation and
expert in sacrifices, was the sacrificer, rishis were priests, gods participants,
was destroyed by You who are habitually the Giver of fruits of sacrifices.
Surely sacrifices cause injury to the sacrificers in the absence of faith and
devotion. || 21 ||
O Lord, the fury of You who became a hunter with a bow in hand has not as
yet left Brahma who, overcome by incestuous lust and finding his own
daughter transforming herself into a hind, desired to ravish her in the body of
a stag and keenly pierced by Your arrows, he (Brahma) has fled to the sky ||
22 ||
O Destroyer of the three cities, 0 Giver of boons, is Parvati who saw the god of
love, bow in hand, burnt like a piece of straw in a minute by You, still proud of
her beauty and believing that You are fascinated by her, because she was
allowed to occupy half Your body because of her austerities? Ah, surely all
women are under delusion. You have completely conquered Your senses. ||
23 ||
O Destroyer of the god of love, 0 Giver of boons, Your play is in cremation
grounds, Your companions are ghosts, You smear Your body with the ashes of
burnt bodies, human skulls are Your garland-all Your conduct is indeed
inauspicious. But You promote the greatest good of those who remember
You. || 24 ||
You are indeed that inexpressible Truth which the yogis realize within through
concentrating their minds on the Self and controlling the breath according to
the directions laid down in the scriptures, and realizing which Truth they
experience rapturous thrills and shed profuse tears of joy; swimming as it
were in a pool of nectar they enjoy inner bliss. || 25 ||
The wise hold this limiting view of You: You are the sun, You are the moon, You
are fire, You are air, You are water, You are space, You are the earth and You
are the Self. But we do not know the things which You are not. || 26 ||
O Giver of refuge, with the three letters A, U, M, indicating the three Vedas,
three states, three worlds and the three gods, the word AUM(Om) describes
You separately. By its subtle sound the word Om collectively denotes You –
Your absolute transcendental state which is free from change. || 27 ||
O Lord! Bhava, Sharva, Rudra, Pashupati, Ugra, Mahadeva, Bhima, and Ishanathese
eight names of Yours are each treated in detail in the Vedas. To You,
most beloved Lord Shankara, of resplendent form, I offer salutations. || 28 ||
O Lover of solitude, my salutations to You who are the nearest and the
farthest. 0 Destroyer of the god of love, my salutations to You who are the
minutest and also the largest. 0 Three-eyed one, my salutations to You who
are the oldest and also the youngest. My salutations to You again and again
who are all and also transcending all. || 29 ||
Salutations to You as Brahma in whom rajas prevails for the creation of the
universe. Salutations to You as Rudra in whom tamas prevails for its
destruction. Salutations to You as Vishnu in whom sattva prevails for giving
happiness to the people. Salutations to You, 0 Shiva, who are effulgent and
beyond the three attributes. || 30 ||
O Giver of boons, how poor is my ill-developed mind, subject to afflictions, and
how boundless Your divinity- Eternal and possessing infinite virtues. Though
terror–stricken because of this, I am inspired by my devotion to offer this
hymnal garland at Your feet. || 31 ||
O Lord, if the black mountain be ink, the ocean the inkpot, the branch of the
stout wish-fulfilling tree a pen, the earth the writing leaf, and if taking these
the Goddess of Learning writes for eternity, even then the limit of Your virtues
will not be reached. || 32 ||
The best of Gandharvas, Pushpadanta by name, composed in great devotion
this beautiful hymn to the Lord, who is worshipped by demons, gods, and the
best of sages, whose praises have been sung, who has the moon on His
forehead, and who is attributeless. || 33 ||
The person who with purified heart and in great devotion always reads this
beautiful and elevating hymn to Shiva, becomes like Shiva (after death) in the
abode of Shiva, and while in this world gets abundant wealth, long life,
progeny and fame. || 34 ||
There is no God higher than Shiva, there is no hymn better than the hymn on
the greatness of Shiva, there is no mantra more powerful than the name of
Shiva, there is nothing higher to be known than the real nature of the Guru.
|| 35 ||
Initiation into spiritual life, charities, austerities, pilgrimages, practice of yoga,
performance of sacrificial rites – none of these give even a sixteenth part of
the merit that one gets by reciting the hymn on the greatness of Shiva. || 36
||
The Lord of Gandharvas, Pushpadanta by name, is the servant of the God of
gods who has the crescent moon on his forehead. Fallen from his glory due to
the wrath of the Lord, he composed this very beautiful uplifting hymn on the greatness of Shiva to regain His favor. || 37 ||
If one with single-minded devotion and folded palms reads this unfailing hymn
composed by Pushpadanta, which is adored by great gods and the best of
sages and which grants heaven and liberation, one goes to Shiva and is
worshipped by Kinnaras (celestial beings). || 38 ||
Thus ends this unparalleled sacred hymn composed by Pushpadanta and
describing the glory of God Shiva in a most fascinating manner. || 39 ||
This hymn worship is offered at the feet of Shiva. May the ever beneficent Lord
of gods be pleased with me at this! || 40 ||
I do not know the truth of your nature and who you are- O great God my
salutations to your true nature. || 41 ||
Whoever reads this once, twice or thrice (in a day) revels in the domain of
Shiva, bereft of all sins. || 42 ||
If a person learns by heart and recites this hymn, which flowed from the lotus
mouth of Pushpadanta, which destroys sins and is dear to Shiva and which
equally promotes the good of all, Shiva, the Lord of creation, becomes very
pleased. || 43 ||
thus ends the hymn called – “Shiva Mahimna Stotra”
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