“I adore You, the guardian of the south-east quarter and Ruler of the whole
universe, eternal bliss personified, the omnipresent and all-pervading Brahma manifest in
the form of the Vedas.
I worship Lord Shiva, shining in His own glory, devoid of material
attributes, undifferentiated, desireless, all-pervading consciousness, having nothing to
wrap about Himself except ether (or enveloping ether itself).
I bow to the supreme Lord,
who is devoid of form, transcendent and extra-cosmic, beyond speech, understanding
and senseperception, terrible yet gracious, the seed of the mystic syllable OM, the Ruler
of Kailasha, the Devourer even of the great Time-Spirit and the abode of virtues.
I adore
the all-merciful Shankara, the universal Lord, who is loved by all and yet unfathomable,
who is possessed of a form white as the snowclad Himalaya, and radiant with the beauty
of a myriad Cupids, whose head sparkles with the lovely stream of the Ganga, whose
brow is adorned by the crescent moon and neck coiled by serpents, who has tremulous
pendants hanging from His ear-lobes, is possessed of beautiful eyebrows and large
eyes, who has a cheerful countenance and a blue speck on His throat, and who has a
lion-skin wrapped round His waist and a garland of skulls round His neck.
I take my
refuge in Bhavani’s Spouse, the supreme Lord, terrible, exalted, intrepid indivisible,
unborn and invested with the glory of a myriad suns, who roots out the threefold agony
and holds a trident in His hand and who is accessible only through love.
Beyond number,
ever blessed, bringing about universal destruction at the end of each round of creation,
a source of perpetual delight to the virtuous, Slayer of the demon Tripura, Consciousness
and Bliss personified, dispeller of delusion, be propitious, my lord, be propitious, O
Destroyer of Cupid.
So long as they worship not the lotus-feet of Uma’s lord, there is no
happiness nor peace nor cessation of suffering for men either in this world or in the next.
Therefore, be propitious, my lord, dwelling as You do in the heart of all living beings.
I know not Yoga (concentration), nor Japa (the muttering of prayers) nor ritual.
I simply
bow to you at all times and at every moment, O Shambhu! Pray, protect me, my lord,
miserable and afflicted by sufferings attendant on old age and birth (and death) as I am,
O Lord Shambhu!”
ShriRamCharitManas