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Nirvana Shatakam

Shankara, Shankara poetry, Yoga / Hindu, Yoga / Hindu poetry, Advaita / Non-Dualist poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry by Shankara
(788 - 820) Timeline

English version by
Ivan M. Granger

Yoga / Hindu : Advaita / Non-Dualist
9th Century

I am not mind, not intellect, not ego, not thought.
I am not the ears, the tongue, the nose or the eyes, or what they witness,
I am neither earth nor sky, not air nor light.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

I am not the breath of prana, nor its five currents.
I am not the seven elements, nor the five organs,
Nor am I the voice or hands or anything that acts.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

I have no hatred or preference, neither greed nor desire nor delusion.
Pride, conflict, jealousy -- these have no part of me.
Nothing do I own, nothing do I seek, not even liberation itself.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

I know neither virtue nor vice, neither pleasure nor pain.
I know no sacred chants, no holy places, no scriptures, no rituals.
I know neither the taste nor the taster.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

I fear not death. I doubt neither my being nor my place.
I have no father or mother; I am unborn.
I have no relatives, no friends. I have no guru and no devotees.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

Free from doubt, I am formless.
With knowledge, in knowledge, I am everywhere, beyond perception.
I am always the same. Not free, not trapped -- I am .

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

Truly, I am Shiva, pure awareness.
Shivo Ham! Shivo Ham!

 

 

 

Themes

  Bliss
  Death
  Freedom
  Light
  Pain and Wounding


Recommended Books


Ramana, Shankara and the Forty Verses: The Essential Teachings of Advaita, by Alan Jacobs
Saundarya Lahari of Sri Sankaracarya, by Shankara
Shankara and Indian Philosophy, by Natalia Isayeva
Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination, Translated by Swami Prabhavananda / Translated by Christopher Isherwood
Upadesa Sahasri: A Thousand Teachings, by Shankara / Translated by Swami Jagadananda

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.