% Text title            : shivaShaDa.akShara stotram
% File name             : shiva6akshara.itx
% Category              : akSharamAlA, shiva
% Location              : doc\_shiva
% Author                : Traditional
% Transliterated by     : WD
% Proofread by          : Darshan Bhatt darshanbhatt at hotmail.com
% Description-comments  : rUdrayAmala source.  Comments by Surin Usgaonkar usgaonkar at hotmail.com
% Latest update         : September 30, 2005
% Send corrections to   : Sanskrit@cheerful.com
%
% This text is prepared by volunteers and is to be used for personal study 
% and research. The file is not to be copied or reposted for promotion of 
% any website or individuals or for commercial purpose without permission. 
% Please help to maintain respect for volunteer spirit.
%
\documentstyle[11pt,multicol,itrans]{article}
#include=ijag.inc
#endwordvowel=.h
\portraitwide
\parindent=100pt                
\let\usedvng=\Largedvng      % for 1 column     
\pagenumbering{itrans} 
\def\engtitle#1{\hrule\medskip\centerline{\LARGE #1}}
\def\itxtitle#1{\medskip\centerline{\LARGEdvng #1}\medskip\hrule}
\def\endtitles{\medskip\obeyspaceslines}
%%
\begin{document}
\engtitle{.. shivaShaDakShara stotram ..}##
\itxtitle{.. shrIshivaShaDakSharastotram ..}##\endtitles ##

OMkAraM bi.ndusa.nyuktaM nityaM dhyAya.nti yoginaH |
kAmadaM mokShadaM chaiva OMkArAya namo namaH || 1||
nama.nti R^iShayo devA namantyapsarasAM gaNAH |
narA nama.nti deveshaM nakArAya namo namaH || 2||
mahAdevaM mahAtmAnaM mahAdhyAnaM parAyaNam |
mahApApaharaM devaM makArAya namo namaH || 3||
shivaM shA.ntaM jagannAthaM lokAnugrahakArakam |
shivamekapadaM nityaM shikArAya namo namaH || 4||
vAhanaM vR^iShabho yasya vAsukiH ka.nThabhUShaNam |
vAme shaktidharaM vedaM vakArAya namo namaH || 5|| ##var. ## devaM
yatra yatra sthito devaH sarvavyApI maheshvaraH |
yo guruH sarvadevAnAM yakArAya namo namaH || 6||
ShaDakSharamidaM stotraM yaH paThechChivasa.nnidhau |
shivalokamavApnoti shivena saha modate || 7||
|| iti shrI rudrayAmale umAmaheshvarasa.nvAde ShaDakSharastotraM sampUrNam ||
## Comments
Uniqueness:

This Shivastrotra is unique in many ways. I list some of the unique
aspects of the strotra below:

1. If you take first Sanskrit syllable from each of the shloka above
and arrange them horizontally
you get   || AUM namaH shivAya || (I bow down to Shiva)

2. The entire composition is composed to be sung in "raga Bhairava".
Raga Bhairava is assumed to be the original creation of music by
Shiva through his drum called "DamarU"

3. However, each of the shloka can be sung in seven basic "ragas" of
Hindustani classical. Pundit Bhimsen Joshi has done it. He has sung
each sloka in different raga.

Philosophic comments:

The ``shivlinga'' has many iconographic and symbologic interpretations.
The most popular, which has caught the fancy of the Westerners, is
that the ``linga" is a phallus of Shiva. This phallus cult is
relatively young cult and the reasons surrounding its developments
are not clear.

The original Vedic Iconography indicates that Shiva was a pall of
fire spreading many light years in all direction that emerged just
after the ``quantum chaos" at the beginning of the universe. Many
Sanskrit scholars believe that the ``quantum chaos" was indeed the
``pashupata-astra"##\(pashupatAstra\)## that Shiva is supposed to be
wielding. Iconographic interpretation of shivlinga as a "enormous
power locked inside a hard black stone cooled perpetually by water
and guarded vigilantly by a security in form of Vasuki- the most
venomous snake" is also popular  (not to miss the shape which
resembles the modern Nuclear reactor).

The above strotra, it may not be wrong to argue, has its ideological
origins in the original school of ``adhikrut sankhya"(##adhikR^ita
sAMkhya##)

Comments by Surin Usgaonkar (written in memory of Bharatratna MM Late Dr P V
Kane whose work will always be  a source of great inspirtion.)
usgaonkar at hotmail.com


\medskip\hrule\obeylines

Please send corrections to sanskrit at cheerful dot c om
Last updated \today
https://sanskritdocuments.org

\end{document}