ଅଷ୍ଟଭୈରଵ ଧ୍ଯାନସ୍ତୋତ୍ରମ୍

This record is a fragment and is not the whole text. A meditation on the eight Bhairavas should carry eight dhyānas, one for Asitāṅga, Ruru, Caṇḍa, Krodha, Unmatta, Kapāla, Bhīṣaṇa and Saṃhāra; what the source supplied is the banner and a single opening verse, and the eight are absent. The verse that survives is worth having on its own terms, because it states the premise the whole class of Bhairava hymns rests on: Bhairava is the complete form of Śaṅkara, of the supreme self, and the deluded do not know it, being bewildered by Śiva's own māyā. That is the claim that makes a fierce figure an object of worship rather than of fear. Until the remaining verses are found, this page should be read as the opening of a text and not as the text.