Swami Vivekananda expresses profound devotion in this hymn to Shiva, composed by him in Sanskrit. The translation is by Swami Ashokananda.
॥शिवस्तोत्रम्॥
ॐ नमः शिवाय॥
निखिलभुवनजन्मस्थेमभङ्गप्ररोहाः
अकलितमहिमानः कल्पिता यत्र तस्मिन्।
सुविमलगगनाभे ईशसंस्थेऽप्यनीशे
मम भवतु भवेऽस्मिन् भासुरो भावबन्धः॥१॥
निहतनिखिलमोहेऽधीशता यत्र रूढा
प्रकटितपरप्रेम्णा यो महादेवसञ्ज्ञः
अशिथिलपरिरम्भः प्रेमरूपस्य यस्य
प्रणयति हृदि विश्वं व्याजमात्रं विभुत्वम्॥ २॥
वहति विपुलवातः पूर्वसंस्काररूपः
प्रमथति बलवृन्दं घूर्णितेवोर्मिमाला।
प्रचलति खलु युग्मं युष्मदस्मत्प्रतीतम्
अतिविकलितरूपं नौमि चित्तं शिवस्थम्॥ ३॥
जनकजनितभावो वृत्तयः संस्कृताश्च
अगणनबहुरूपो यत्र एको यथार्थः।
शमितविकृतिवाते यत्र नान्तर्बहिश्च
तमहह हरमीडे चित्तवृत्तेर्निरोधम्॥ ४॥
गलिततिमिरमालः शुभ्रतेजःप्रकाशः
धवलकमलशोभः ज्ञानपुञ्जाट्टहासः।
यमिजनहृदिगम्यः निष्कलं ध्यायमानः
प्रणतमवतु मां स मानसो राजहंसः॥ ५॥
दुरितदलनदक्षं दक्षजादत्तदोषं
कलितकलिकलङ्कं कम्रकह्लारकान्तम्।
परहितकरणाय प्राणविच्छेदसूत्कं
नतनयननियुक्तं नीलकण्ठं नमामः॥ ६॥
Translation from Sankrit
May my luminous love fasten firm to Him, to Shiva,
In whom arise visions of glories immeasurable!
May my luminous love cling to Him who is utterly pure, like the sky,
Who is Lord of all, having no lord over Himself!
May my luminous devotion be attached to Him
By whom all delusion is destroyed,
In whom Lordship is forever existent!
May it be attached to Him who, manifesting surpassing Love,
is named “the Great God.”
The firm embrace of Him—Love Itself—reveals within the heart
The infinity of being, the falseness of the worlds.
I salute Mind which has its support in Shiva,
But has lost its pristine perfection and assumed misshapen forms;
I salute Mind in which all the impresses of the past are blowing
like a furious tempest,
Stirring up energies violently, like waters lashed into furious waves;
In which flows ceaselessly the dual current of the sense of “I” and “thou.”
I worship Shiva in whom ideas of cause and effect,
Thoughts and impresses and countless varied forms become the Real One.
I worship Him in whom—when the wind of change is calmed—
There is neither within nor without.
I worship Him who is the perfect stillness of the Mind.
He whose thunderous laughter is the flood of Knowledge,
He from whom all darkness is dispersed, who manifests as white radiance,
who is beautiful as the white lotus;
He who is indivisible, who is sought in meditation;
He who is realized in the heart of men of self-control—
May He, that Lordly Swan of my mind, protect me!
May He protect me, who am bowing before Him!
Him, who destroys sin and removes the dark stain of our age;
Whose benign eyes watch over all who have surrendered to Him;
Who joyously sacrifices Himself for the good of others,
Whose throat is blue from drinking the poison intended for others—
Him, lustrous as the white water lily—
Him I salute!
from The Voice of India, published by the
Vedanta Society of Northern California in the 1940s. (Source: vedantadc.org, Image: vedicstore)
