śiva bhujaṅga prayāta stotram

Salutations to Śiva — who is an ocean of compassion, who quickly bestows the gift of eloquent poetry, who grants all the desired objects of those who bow before him, whose lotus-feet are worshipped by the foremost among ascetics (yatīndras), and who is the giver of supreme awakening (prabodha).

To you — who are of the nature of consciousness-bliss (cid-ānanda), whose hand is upraised in the cin-mudrā (the gesture of supreme knowledge), whose form is synonymous with Īśa (the Lord), who are joyfully sung by the Upaniṣads (the highest limb of the Vedas), and who grant bliss to those who take refuge — I offer salutations.

In the midst of your matted hair-knot (jaṭā-jūṭa), long ago dwelt the divine river of the gods. Now, in your form as a kamaṇḍalu-bearing Śambhu (holy ascetic), we perceive that very same Gaṅgā appearing at your neck — cleverly disguised as a garland of white jasmine flowers.

Salutations to the supremely peaceful one — whose moon-radiance from his toenails drives away the darkness in the hearts of bowing devotees, whose smile is gentle as a lotus, who is like the submarine volcanic fire (bāḍava-agni) for the deep ocean of great delusion — yet remains perfectly, supremely peaceful (praśānta).

To you — who give awakening to the inner lotus-hearts of bowing devotees, who shine uninterruptedly like the sun both day and night, who are also lord of the night (moon) — yet, wonderfully, are free from the defects of waxing and waning — salutations.

Salutations to the unprecedented one of complete splendor — who grants joy to the lotus-faces of those who bow before him, who is the eternal destroyer of the masses of inner darkness, and who blazes with light even in the dark of night — the utterly unique, perfectly full one.

'I quickly cause the lotus-hearts of those who bow to bloom, certainly, by granting yoga,' says the Lord — and indeed, for their awakening, you hold those blossoming lotuses in this manner, filling them with the fragrance of divine knowledge.

Salutations to you — whose radiance surpasses ten thousand moons, who quickly grants all desires to multitudes of bowing devotees, who stands opposed (as destroyer) to the long line of sorrows and sins of those who bow, and who joyfully grants all knowledge.

O Lord, O Guru — the dust-particles (impurities) that have been expelled from the minds of bowing devotees by the knowledge of Truth, having nowhere else to seek refuge, have fallen at your lotus-feet. They have taken sole refuge there, with no other support.

Salutations to the one who — with his compassion-saturated sidelong glances — leads the minds of bowing seekers along the path to the summit of the Vedas (Vedānta/Upaniṣads), and who is the swift destroyer of multitudes of sins.

Salutations to the one who — long ago — quickly gave the knowledge of all things to Tōṭaka, who had not even a whiff of skilled speech; who thereby removed the pride of the other learned disciples; and the softness of whose lotus-feet is itself the greatest of all gifts.

'Having learned your fame — that you, in your incomparable compassion, desire to quickly lift up all people submerged in the ocean of existence and burdened with suffering — alas, I too have taken refuge in you.' Thus the devotee surrenders completely.