śarabheśāṣṭakam

Hear, O Goddess, this great secret, supreme and increasing merit: I shall declare to you the Śarabheśa Aṣṭakam as it truly is. The placing of the seer and the rest is to be performed exactly as before; the differences in the meditation I shall now set out for you in particular, O auspicious one.

Meditation: His matted hair like curling flame, the sun, the moon and fire his three eyes; his golden-gleaming body borne up on claws honed keen — Śarabha, served by the foremost of sages, white of limb, destroyer of the fear of all who bow to him. So let one contemplate the King of Birds.

O lord of all gods (dēvādidēva), pervading the entire universe (jaganmaya), the auspicious Śiva, whose face is beautiful as the lotus (nālīkanibhānana), the destroyer (śarva), the awesome and terrible one (bhīma), lord of sacred arrows (śarādhipa) — salutations to you, O Śarabhēśvara!

O destroyer (hara), the awesome (bhīma), dear to Hari (haripriya — for the Śarabha form overcame even Narasiṃha), the ever-existent (bhava), the supremely tranquil (śānta), beyond even the beyond (parātpara), the compassionate one (mṛḍa), Rudra (the weeping and fierce), the third-eyed (vilōchana) — salutations to you, O Śarabhēśvara!

O wearer of the cool moon as crown (śītāṃśuchūḍa), sky-clad — wearing the sky as garment (digambara), the cause of all creation, preservation and dissolution (sṛṣṭisthitidhvaṃsanakāraṇa), with flowing matted locks (jaṭākalāpa), master of all the senses (jitēndriya) — salutations to you, O Śarabhēśvara!

O blue-throated one — the one with the darkened neck (kalaṅkakaṇṭha), destroyer of all worldly existence (bhavāntaka), whose lotus-hands hold both a skull and a trident (kapālaśūlāttakarāmbuja), adorned with serpents as ornaments (bhujaṅgabhūṣa), destroyer of the triple-citied demons (purāntaka) — salutations to you, O Śarabhēśvara!

O embodiment of the six virtues beginning with inner tranquility (śamādiṣaṭka), the death of Yama himself (yamāntaka), granter of the eight perfections of yoga beginning with yama and niyama (yamādiyōgāṣṭakasiddhida), the lord who is Umā's husband (umādhināthaḥ), the most ancient of all (purātana) — salutations to you, O Śarabhēśvara!

O one who is completely free from the eight bonds of emotion beginning with hatred and disgust (ghṛṇādipāśāṣṭakavarjita), who has gone before all on the path to liberation (khilīkṛtāsmatpathi pūrvaga), who is beyond all qualities and yet is their source (guṇādihīna), yet consisting of the three guṇas (guṇatraya) — salutations to you, O Śarabhēśvara!

O Time itself (kāla), the living root-bulb of the nectar hidden within the Vedas (vēdāmṛtakandala), the cause of all auspicious wonder in this world (kalyāṇakautūhalakāraṇa), the gross (sthūla), the subtle (sūkṣma), who abides eternally in his own true nature (svarūpaga) — salutations to you, O Śarabhēśvara!

O five-faced one (pañchānana), who combines sun and wind — both blazing and moving (anilabhāskara), destroyer of the primordial powers concealed within all fifty letters of the sacred alphabet (pañchāśadarṇādyaparākṣaya), lord of the five-syllable mantra Namaḥ Śivāya (pañchākṣarēśa), the benefactor of all worlds (jagaddhita) — salutations to you, O Śarabhēśvara!