Sunday 31 July 2011

Shivoham shivoham

Just a few days ago, I came upon this wonderful stotram -chidanand roopah shivoham shivoham rendered soulfully by Roop Kumar Rathore and Ravindra Sathe .Traditionally known as Atmasaksaatkar ashtak attributed to Adi Shankaracharya, the stotra tries to get into the Self-with a capital S.What is the essence of human beings or for that matter anything and everything in this Universe,or of the Universe it self ?.The ashtak-a set of eight stanzas-tells us that all of us are just eternal bliss. The problem is that it is not possible to define  the eternal bliss  satisfactorily.Hence the poet  resorts to negative metaphor, i.e. he tells us that he is neither this nor that, he is just the eternal bliss.He is not mind, intellect,ego,heart, ears, tongue,eyes, nose(for smelling), sky, earth,light, air,  the vital force, the awareness,the five Pranas,the seven Dhatus, the  the five koshas, the speech,  hands, feet, excretory organs ,sex organs,hatred, attachment, anger, greed,jealousy,pride,responsibility, wealth,desire, salvation,virtue, sin,happiness, sorrow,mantra, place of pilgrimage,the Vedas,theyajnya,food,the eater,the fear of death, differences in status,mother, father, the birth, the sibling,the friend, the guru, the disciple, he is just eternal bliss.That is all of are Shiva if we realize ourselves.Needless to say, I was transported to a different world all together,forgetting the dreaded  disease  I was suffering from.Such diseases have no meaning when you identify yourself as Shiva who is the eternal bliss.It is a different matter whether we can unexperience the pain.and be oblivious of it when it is unbearable.