A HYMN TO SHIVA शिवस्तोत्रम्

ॐ नमः शिवाय।

निखिलभुवनजन्मस्थेमभङ्गप्ररोहा
अकलितमहिमान: कल्पिता यत्र तस्मिन्।
सुविमलगगनाभे त्वीशसंस्थेऽप्यनीशे
मम भवतु भवेऽस्मिन् भासुरो भावबन्ध:॥

Salutation to Shiva! whose glory

Is immeasurable, who resembles sky
In clearness, to whom are attributed
The phenomena of all creation,
The preservation and dissolution
Of the universe! May the devotion,
The burning devotion of this my life
Attach itself to Him, to Shiva, who,
While being Lord of all, transcends Himself.

निहतनिखिलमोहेऽधीशता यत्र रूढा
प्रकटितपरप्रेम्णा यो महादेवसंज्ञ: ।
अशिथिलपरिरम्भ: प्रेमरूपस्य यस्य
प्रणयति हृदि विश्वं व्याजमात्रं विभुत्वम्॥

In whom Lordship is ever established,

Who causes annihilation of delusion,
Whose most surpassing love, made manifest,
Has crowned Him with a name above all names,
The name of “Mahādeva”, the Great God!
Whose warm embrace, of Love personified,
Displays, within man’s heart, that all power
Is but a semblance and a passing show.

वहति विपुलवात: पूर्वसंस्काररूपो
विदलति बलवृन्दं घूर्णितेवोर्मिमाला ।
प्रचलति खलु युग्मं युष्मदस्मत्प्रतीतम्
अतिविकलितरूपं नौमि चित्तं शिवस्थम्॥

In which the tempest of the whole past blows,

Past Samskāras¹, stirring the energies
With violence, like water lashed to waves;
In which the dual consciousness of “I” and “Thou”
Plays on: I salute that mind unstable,
Centred in Shiva, the abode of calm!

Where the ideas of parent and produced,

Purified thoughts and endless varied forms,
Merge in the Real one; where the existence ends
Of such conceptions as “within”, “without”—
The wind of modification being stilled—
That Hara I worship, the suppression
Of movements of the mind. Shiva I hail!

गलिततिमिरमाल: शुभ्रतेज:प्रकाशो
धवलकमलशोभो ज्ञानपुञ्जाट्टहास:।
यमिजनहृदिगम्यो निष्कलं ध्यायमान:
प्रणतमवतु मां स: मानसो राजहंस:॥

From whom all gloom and darkness have dispersed;

That radiant Light, white, beautiful
As bloom of lotus white is beautiful;
Whose laughter loud sheds knowledge luminous;
Who, by undivided meditation,
Is realised in the self-controlled heart:
May that Lordly Swan of the limpid lake
Of my mind, guard me, prostrate before Him!

दुरितदलनदक्षं दक्षजादत्तदोषं
कलितकलिकलङ्क कम्रकह्लारकान्तम्।
परहितकरणाय प्राणविच्छेदप्रीतं
नतनयननियुक्तं नीलकण्ठं नमाम:॥

Him, the Master-remover of evil,

Who wipes the dark stain of this Iron Age;
Whom Daksha’s Daughter gave Her coveted hand;
Who, like the charming water-lily white,
Is beautiful; who is ready ever
To part with life for others’ good, whose gaze
Is on the humble fixed; whose neck is blue²
With the poison³ swallowed:
Him, we salute!

Notes

1. The accumulated effects of past desires and actions.
   जनकजनितभावो वृत्तय: संस्कृताश्च
   अगणनबहुरूपो यत्र चैको यथार्थ:।
   शमितविकृतिवाते यत्र नान्तर्बहिश्च
   तमहह हरमीडे चित्तवृत्तेर्निरोधम््॥ ↩
2. Nilakantha, a name of Shiva. ↩
3. The all-destructive evil. ↩