mahādeva kī āratī

The Hindi aarti to Mahadeva, and it begins with four adjectives that do most of the work: true, everlasting, beautiful, Shiva — lord of all; without change, without destruction, unborn, the inner ruler. That is a good deal of Vedanta for the opening line of an aarti, and the verses that follow bring it back down to the figure the singers can picture, the ash and the moon and the serpent and the Ganga in the hair. Its closing line is the plainest kind of asking and the reason such an aarti is sung at all: make my understanding clean in every way, and make me your own. Sung standing with the lamp circling, most often on Mondays and at Mahashivaratri.