Eight verses to the Most Auspicious
Rudrāshtakam by Tulsidās
Once someone asked Ramana Maharshi, “If Shiva comes in person in front of you riding His nandi bull and grants you any boon you wish, what would ou ask Him?”. Pat came the reply, “You are the formless pure Consciousness. Don’t come in the form of a person that can delude people!”
Our true nature is made in the image of God as Pure Consciousness. But we are prone to anthropomorphize God in our image as the human form. It is not altogether illogical as we relate to forms more easily as long as we are attached to the world of forms. And yet, it is important to recognize the limitation of all forms as only projections of our finite knowledge and utterly incapable of capturing the Infinite. Otherwise we can be easily deluded by being stuck in the play of forms.
In the light of this context and the interplay between forms and the formless, it is a delightful fusion of sorts to look at a wonderful prayer to Shiva as the formless, written by Tulsidās within his rendering of Rāmāyana, the great epic on the form of God’s descent (avatar) as Ram. What is especially noteworthy is that the entire epic is in the mood of devotion to the form of Ram as the avatar of Vishnu and yet right within the context of the unfolding of the story, Tulsidās belts out this remarkable prayer to the formless as Shiva.
Tulsidās wrote his Rāmāyana in and around the Kāshi Vishwanāth temple which is dedicated to Shiva (literally means the Auspicious One). And he composed this wonderful poem called Rudrāshtakam (eight verses for Rudra or Shiva) which is found in the concluding portions of the monumental epic written by Tulsidās. It is composed in a meter called bhujanga prayāt that literally means movement of the serpent and it makes the prayer so sweet and melodious to be rendered in musical form.
The first line itself begins by stating that Shiva’s very form is liberation (nirvāṇa-rūpam) thus making clear that we are not talking of a temporal deity but the eternal Being whose very nature is freedom. Then it goes on to do a nice interplay of both the formless and the form alternately. While the formless is described only through negation along the Upanishadic lines of neti, neti (not this, not this), the form itself is highly symbolic of the underlying Truth that transcends all forms. For instance, Shiva wearing tiger skin symbolizes subduing animalistic passions, garland of skulls symbolizes destroying ego, Ganga emanating from his head symbolizes the flow of eternal wisdom and so on. All of this is captured with great poetic flair by Tulsidās in this lovely prayer.
Here is a soulful rendition of Krishna Das to listen along while reading the translation I have given below.
नमामीशमीशान निर्वाणरूपं
विभुं व्यापकं ब्रह्मवेदस्वरूपम् ।
निजं निर्गुणं निर्विकल्पं निरीहं
चिदाकाशमाकाशवासं भजेऽहम् ॥१॥
namām-īsham-īshaana nirvāṇa-rūpam
vibhum vyāpakam brahma-veda-svarūpam |
nijam nirguṇam nirvikalpam nirīham
chidākāsham-ākāsha-vāsam bhajeham ||1||
My worshipful salutations to the Lord of the auspicious direction, whose form is liberation, Almighty, all pervading, whose very form is the highest knowledge of the Supreme, Truth, beyond all attributes, changeless, still, space of Consciousness, ever present as Space itself.
निराकारमोङ्कारमूलं तुरीयं
गिराज्ञानगोतीतमीशं गिरीशम् ।
करालं महाकालकालं कृपालं
गुणागारसंसारपारं नतोऽहम् ॥२॥
nirākāram-omkāra-mūlam turīyam
girā-jnāna-gotītam-īsham girīsham |
karālam mahākāla-kālam krpālam
guṇāgāra-samsāra-pāram natoham ||2||
My worshipful salutations to the Formless, the source of the sacred Om, the substratum of waking, dream and deep sleep states, who is beyond speech, knowledge and sense perceptions, Lord of the mountains, fierce as the destroyer of the great destroyer called Time, compassionate, abode of all virtues, transcending the manifest universe.
तुषाराद्रिसंकाशगौरं गभीरं
मनोभूतकोटिप्रभाश्री शरीरम् ।
स्फुरन्मौलिकल्लोलिनी चारुगङ्गा
लसद्भालबालेन्दु कण्ठे भुजङ्गा ॥३॥
tushārādri-samkāsha-gauram gabhīram
mano-bhūta-koti-prabhā-shrī sharīram |
sphuran-mauli-kallolinī chāru-gangā
lasad-bhāla-bālendu kaṇtthe bhujangā ||3||
My worshipful salutations to the One fair like a snowy white mountain, fathomless, whose form is the radiance that illuminates the minds of all beings, in whose head throbs the river Ganga of elegant waves, whose forehead is adorned with a crescent moon and neck with a serpent.
चलत्कुण्डलं भ्रूसुनेत्रं विशालं
प्रसन्नाननं नीलकण्ठं दयालम् ।
मृगाधीशचर्माम्बरं मुण्डमालं
प्रियं शङ्करं सर्वनाथं भजामि ॥४॥
chalat-kuṇdalam bhrū-sunetram vishālam
prasannānanam nīla-kaṇttham dayālam |
mrgādhīsha-charmāmbaram muṇda-mālam
priyam shankaram sarva-nātham bhajāmi ||4||
My worshipful salutations to the One adorned with swaying ear-rings, striking eyebrows and pleasant, large eyes, cheerful face and blue throat, merciful, wearing the skin of a tiger (signifying the subduing of animal instincts) and a garland of skulls (signifying the destroying of ego), beloved Shankara (lit. causes well-being), the Lord of all.
प्रचण्डं प्रकृष्टं प्रगल्भं परेशं
अखण्डं अजं भानुकोटिप्रकाशं ।
त्र्यःशूलनिर्मूलनं शूलपाणिं
भजेऽहं भवानीपतिं भावगम्यम् ॥५॥
prachaṇdam prakrssttam pragalbham paresham
akhaṇdam ajam bhānu-koti-prakāsham |
tryah-shūla-nirmūlanam shūla-pāṇim
bhajeham bhavānī-patim bhāva-gamyam ||5||
My worshipful salutations to the One who is terrifying, immense and all powerful, Supreme Lord, undivided, unborn, radiant like millions of suns, who uproots the threefold miseries (caused by oneself, others and nature), trident in hand, Lord of Bhavānī (Mother of creation), who can be realized by loving devotion.
कालातीतकल्याण कल्पान्तकारी
सदा सज्जनानन्ददाता पुरारी ।
चिदानन्दसंदोह मोहापहारी
प्रसीद प्रसीद प्रभो मन्मथारी ॥६॥
kalātīta-kalyāṇa kalpānta-kārī
sadā sajjanānanda-dātā purārī |
chidānanda-samdoha mohāpahārī
prasīda prasīda prabho manmathārī ||6||
My worshipful salutations to the One beyond time, benevolent, ending the cycle of time, ever giving joy to the saintly, enemy of the wicked, totality of the bliss of pure Consciousness, remover of delusion, destroyer of worldly passions. Be pleased, be pleased, Oh Lord!
न यावद् उमानाथपादारविन्दं
भजन्तीह लोके परे वा नराणाम् ।
न तावत्सुखं शान्ति सन्तापनाशं
प्रसीद प्रभो सर्वभूताधिवासं ॥७॥
na yāvad umānātha-pādāravindam
bhajantīha loke pare vā narāṇām |
na tāvat-sukham shānti santāpa-nāsham
prasīda prabho sarva-bhūtādhi-vāsam ||7||
As long as we humans don’t worship the lotus feet of the Lord of Uma, so long will there be no joy, peace and end of sorrows here in this world or beyond. Be pleased, Oh Lord who resides within all beings!
न जानामि योगं जपं नैव पूजां
नतोऽहं सदा सर्वदा शम्भुतुभ्यम् ।
जराजन्मदुःखौघ तातप्यमानं
प्रभो पाहि आपन्नमामीश शंभो ॥८॥
na jānāmi yogam japam naiva pūjām
natoham sadā sarvadā shambhu-tubhyam |
jarā-janma-duhkhaugha tātapyamānam
prabho pāhi āpanna-mām-īsha shambho ||8||
I do not know Yoga, chants or any prayers. I always ever only bow dow to You, Oh Shambhu (lit. source of happiness)! Protect me afflicted with terrible anxiety induced by the sorrows of old age and repeated birth, Oh Lord Shambhu!
रुद्राष्टकमिदं प्रोक्तं विप्रेण हरतोषये
ये पठन्ति नरा भक्त्या तेषां शम्भुः प्रसीदति ॥९॥
rudrāssttakam-idam proktam vipreṇa hara-toshaye
ye patthanti narā bhaktyā teshām shambhuh prasīdati ||9||
Shambhu is pleased with those who recite with devotion these eight verses (Rudrashtakam) composed by the wise for pleasing Hara (lit. destroyer of sorrows).