The Mantras of Lord Rudra
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| The Mantras of Lord Rudra |
Rudra); Panch Brahm Upanishad, verse no. 30 (Mantra of Shiva). (ii) Atharva Veda =
Tripura Tapini Upanishad, Canto 4, paragraph nos. 1-6 (Mantra of Lord Trayambak);
paragraph no. 8 (Mantra of Lord Shiva or Rudra); Bhasma Jabal Upanishad, Canto 1,
paragraph no. 1; Canto 2, paragraph no. 3 (Rudra Mantra/Sukta); Canto 2, paragraph nos.
4, 18 (Tarak Mantras of Rudra); Brihajjabal Upanishad, Brahman 3, verse no. 12-13;
Brahman 6, verse no. 5-6; Brahman 7, verse no. 1 (the seven-lettered Mantra of Rudra,
known as the Shat-Rudra Mantra).
Now, let us see these Mantras in brief.
(i) The one-word Mantra of Shiva—It is the Lord’s name ‘Shiva’ that is in itself a
Mantra. Hence, the one-letter eclectic Mantra of Lord Shiva is Shiva or Shivam. Refer
Bhasma Jabal Upanishad of the Atharva Veda tradition, Canto 2, paragraph no. 4.
(ii) The two-letter Mantra of Shiva or Rudra is the Rudra Mantra—The eclectic Mantra
is Rudra-Rudra. It is dedicated to Lord Rudra who is one of the eleven divine forms of
Lord Shiva. It is described in Rudra Hridaya Upanishad of Krishna Yajur Veda tradition,
verse no. 16. [The two letters are ‘Ru + Dra =2.] It is so powerful and grand that it is said
to incorporate all the Mantras of the not only the other two Gods of the Trinity, viz.
Vishnu and Brahma, but all other Gods combined. To quote this Upanishad—“Therefore,
a wise and enlightened man who repeats the great Mantra ‘Rudra Rudra’ and remembers
the great Lord is symbolically worshipping all the Gods and repeating their Mantras. This
helps him to overcome the evil effects of all sins and misdeeds (16).
[Note—In the view of what has been expounded in this Upanishad, the Mantra ‘Rudra-
Rudra’ would deem to include the divine Mantras of all the Gods of the Trinity—i.e.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Much like OM which is the universal Mantra for the supreme
transcendental Brahm, this Mantra ‘Rudra-Rudra’ is the universal Mantra for all the Gods
combined.]”
(iii) The five-letter Mantra of Lord Shiva has been described in Panch Brahm Upanishad
of Krishna Yajur Veda tradition, verse no. 30. It is ‘Namaha Shivaaye’. [Na + Maha +
Shi +Va + Ye = 5.]
(iv) The six-letter Mantra of Shiva or Rudra is ‘OM Namaha Shiva OM’ which is
mentioned in the Atharva Veda’s Tripura Tapini Upanishad, Canto 4, paragraph no. 8;
Brihajjabal Upanishad, Brahman 3, verse no. 12-13. [OM + Na + Maha + Shi + Vaa +
OM = 6.]
The Bhasma Jabal Upanishad, Canto 2, paragraph nos. 4, 18 however says that
that the six-letter Mantra of Lord Shiva is ‘OM Namaha Shivaaye’. [OM + Na + Maha +
Shi + Vaa + Ye = 6.] This is the Tarak Mantra of Lord Shiva. [Canto 2, paragraph no.
18.]
(v) The seven-letter Mantra of Lord Shiva or Rudra is ‘OM Namaha Shivaaye OM’. [OM
+ Na + Maha + Shi + Vaa + Ye + OM = 7.]
(vi) The eight-letter Mantra of Lord Shiva is ‘OM Namaha Mahaa-devaaye’. It is given
in Bhasma Jabal Upanishad, Canto 2, paragraph no. 4. [OM + Na + Maha + Ma + Haa +
De + Vaa + Ye = 8.]
This Upanishad says that the eight-letter Mantra of Shiva is known as the Tarak
Mantra, the one which provides liberation and deliverance to the spiritual seeker. This
Mantra provides liberation and deliverance to the devotees of Lord Shiva in the Lord’s
terrestrial abode known as the pilgrim city of Kashi. Preaching this Tarak Mantra of Lord Shiva is equivalent to the preaching of the Mantras of the Vedas. [In other words, this is
the Veda Mantra.]
(vii) The Trayambak Mantra is described in the Tripura Tapini Upanishad of the Atharva
Veda tradition, Canto 4 which is entirely devoted to Lord Trayambak. It describes the
meaning of this word and the Mantras dedicated to Lord Trayambak in great detail. This
Mantra is given in Canto 4, paragraph nos. 1-6, and it is ‘Trayambakam Yajaamahe
Sugandhim Pushti-vardhan Urwaaruk-miv Bandhanaan-mrityor-mukshi-yeti Mamritaat’.
(viii) The Atharva Veda’s Bhasma Jabal Upanishad, Canto 1, paragraph no. 4, and
Brihajjabal Upanishad, Brahman no. 6, verse nos. 5-6 says that the Mantra/Sukta of Lord
Rudra (Shiva) should be said while preparing the sacred Bhasma (ash) for applying on
the body of the ascetic.
(ix) The Atharva Veda’s Bhasma Jabal Upanishad, Canto 1, paragraph no. 1, and Canto
2, paragraph no. 3 say that after praying to Lord Shiva by using the Rudra Sukta/Mantra,
the worshipper should offer the Lord white Bhasma, the fruits of the Bel tree (the wood-
apple tree; Aegla marmelos), and leaves of the Bilva tree (Aegle marmelos). The leaves of
the Bilva tree should be green (i.e. freshly plucked) and three in number. If green leaves
are not available, then dry leaves can also be offered
Now, let see what these two Rudra Suktas/Mantras are—
“Canto 1, paragraph no. 1 = The Lord known as Maha-Dev was an embodiment of OM
(the ethereal sound manifestation of the supreme Brahm also known as Pranav). He was
accompanied by his divine consort named Uma (the Mother Goddess).
He had a crown of matted hairs on his head. He had three eyes represented by the
sun, the moon and the fire. He was wrapped in the hide of a tiger. He held his hands like
a deer (i.e. his hands were resting on his folded-in legs as he sat in meditation posture).
His body was adorned (smeared) by the ‘Bhasma’ (ash of the fire sacrifice).
On his forehead were marked the three lines of the Tripund (which is a sacred
mark borne by ascetics). There was a subtle sweet and pleasant smile on his face. His
body was cheerful and he had a pleasant demeanour (i.e. he was rested and calm; he was
not agitated, fidgety or upset).
He was like a lion who was sitting in the posture known as ‘Viraasan’. [This one
of the many sitting postures of Yoga, and is usually adopted by brave warriors, hence the
name ‘Viraasan’. The word ‘Vir’ means one who is brave, valiant, gallant, bold,
courageous, daring and mighty.]
He is so mystical and sublime that he is beyond the purview of proofs and
measurements.
He is ‘Anaadi and Anant’—i.e. he is without an end or beginning as he is eternal,
infinite and imperishable.
He is ‘Niskal’—i.e. he is the one who has no taints, faults, blemishes and
imperfections that can scar his immaculacy and purity. He is immaculate and without any
faults or blemishes as he is from all the corrupting influences of Maya (delusions and
deceit).
He is ‘Nirguna’—i.e. he has no attributes or qualities or physical forms in the true
sense (as the Lord is not an ordinary God with attributes, but the Supreme Being who has
no known forms, specific attributes and describable qualities).
He is ‘Shanta’—i.e. he is calm, serene, peaceful and tranquil.
He is ‘Niranjan’—i.e. he is faultless, flawless, uncorrupted, untainted and without
any blemishes of any kind. [A Niranjan is an entity that has no defects, faults, taints,
blemishes, shortcomings and scars of any kind; one who is absolutely immaculate and
pristine pure. It is an epithet applied to Lord Vishnu, the sustainer and protector of
creation. one whose sublime, subtle, esoteric and mystical form is so microscopic and
diffused that it cannot be seen by the naked eyes of the physical gross body, but which
can only be perceived by the eye of wisdom, erudition and enlightenment.]
He is ‘Niraamaye’, i.e. he is healthy and without any moral or physical ailments
or tainting affects that are like a disease that might afflict a person’s spiritual well being.
One who is free from any kind of diseases—spiritual, mental, physical, psychological,
moral etc. that may taint one’s character and personality.
He (Lord Maha-Dev) was pronouncing the Beej Mantra ‘Hum’, ‘Phat’ etc., and
continuously repeating the holy name of the Supreme Being who is also known as
‘Shiva’. That is, he was meditating upon his own pure and enlightened ‘self’ which is
truly the Supreme Being known as Brahm manifested in the form of the Atma, the cosmic
Consciousness. Hence, he was doing Japa with the Mantra ‘Shiva-Shiva’.
His is a living embodiment of the virtues for which the word ‘Hiranya’ is an
aphorism. That is, the Lord has a radiance that is like gold; his hands (limbs) have a
golden radiance, his form is like gold, his countenance is golden, and he is a treasury of
immaculate virtues which resemble gold. [Since gold is the most precious metal, all his
virtues and characteristics are completely immaculate and of the highest quality.]
The Lord is a personification of the grand philosophy of Advaita, the philosophy
of non-duality which says that there is only one Brahm or cosmic Truth in the form of
Consciousness that is revealed in al the forms that this creation has taken, and therefore
whatever that exists is nothing but one single Brahm. [In other words, Lord Maha-Dev is
perfectly wise, enlightened and Brahm-realised in as much as he sees no difference
between himself and the Supreme Being. This is the reason he is repeating the Mantra
‘Shiva’ while meditating.]
Since he is extremely enlightened, self-realised and Brahm-realised, he stays in
the fourth state of Turiya. [This is the transcendental state of existence in which the
ascetic lives in a state of trance. He is so deeply submerged in meditation and
contemplation that he is not even aware of his body and what it does, and therefore there
is no question of his being aware of the surrounding material world and its temptations.
Hence, he is free from all corruptions and delusions that mire an ordinary soul.]
This fourth state is a representative of the Supreme Being who is beyond the
Trinity Gods known as Brahma the creator, Vishnu the sustainer, and Rudra the
concluder. Hence, the Lord who stays in this eclectic and sublime state of Consciousness
is known as ‘Maha-Dev’, the great Lord. [This fact has been expressly emphasized in the
Pashupat Upanishad, Purva Kand, verse no. 10, which is the nineteenth Upanishad of the
Atharva Veda.]
Such a divine and majestic Lord is the fulfiller of all the desires of his devotees.
Sage Jabal Bhusund politely bowed before the Lord repeatedly, worshipped him
and paid his obeisance to him, offered him fruits of the Bilva tree (Aegle marmelos) and
Bhasma (ash of the fire sacrifice), bowed his head, and asked him with folded hands as a
gesture of politeness and submission—‘Oh Lord! You are well-versed in the essence of
the Vedas and their profound teachings. Please tell me about the rules and tenets
pertaining to the ‘Tripund2
’ as described and prescribed in the Vedas, and by following
which one is able to attain Moksha (final liberation, deliverance, emancipation and
salvation). One need not take the recourse of any other means if one fully understands
this doctrine. (1).
“Canto 2, paragraph no. 3 = ‘The Lord is sitting on the Nandi (the bull). His arms are of a
golden hue; his general countenance also has a golden hue; and his form appears to be
cast in gold.
The Lord is the eliminator or destroyer of the snare represented by the continuous
cycle of birth and death that has shackled all the living beings in its vicious grip. [That is,
the Lord grants the boon of Mukti, or liberation and deliverance, to all the creatures.]
He is the primordial Purush personified. [That is, Lord Shiva is a personified form
of the cosmic Viraat Purush, the macrocosmic all-pervading and all-encompassing gross
but invisible form of the supreme transcendental Brahm, the Supreme Being.]
His neck is coloured dark with a tinge of yellow1
.
He is highly self-realised, enlightened and wise (‘Urdhva-reta’).
He has three eyes (‘Trilochan’). [The Lord has two conventional eyes, and one
eye on the middle of the forehead signifying the mystical powers of insight that comes
with the highest form of wisdom, enlightenment, knowledge and self-realisation.]
He has taken the form of this whole world (‘Vishwa-roop’). This is because the
entire creation is a revelation of Brahm, the Supreme Being, and Shiva is a personified
form of Brahm.
That is why he is said to have thousands of eyes (‘Sahastraaksham’) symbolizing
countless creatures. This is also metaphor for the fact that nothing is hidden from the
Lord, for he ‘sees’ everything, even the most secret and the esoteric.
Similarly, he has thousands of heads (‘Sahastra-shirsha’), and thousands of legs
(‘Sahastra-charan’). In fact, the entire creation (world) is embraced in his arms; this
whole creation represents his arms. [If he has ‘thousands of eyes’, then it is natural that
he would also have equal number of heads. It also means that the Lord has equal number
of mouths, tongues, ears, noses etc. Again, if he has thousands of legs it also implies that
he must have equal number of hands. All this simply indicate that the entire creation is a
majestic multifarious revelation of one single Divinity known as Shiva.]
Hence, Lord Shiva represents the Atma (soul) of the whole creation. [This reflects
upon the metaphysical doctrine that the word ‘Atma’ refers to the pure consciousness that
resides inside the body of an individual creature as his ‘true self’. This Atma of the
individual is the microcosmic counterpart of the macrocosmic Consciousness that is
universal and uniformly pervades throughout this creation. This universal Atma at the
macrocosmic level of creation is known as Brahm. This Brahm therefore is the subtlest
and most sublime entity in existence. When this Brahm revealed itself, it went through
subtle steps in its transition from the subtlest to the grossest forms. The first step was the
Viraat Purush, the all-pervading, all-encompassing, all-inclusive invisible macrocosmic form of Brahm which was the latter’s first gross form. The word ‘gross’ when applied to
the Viraat Purush is only in terms of relativity, for both Brahm and Viraat are sublime
and subtle when compared to the word ‘gross’ as is understood in the context of the
visible world of material sense objects. It is easy to understand this phenomenon—we
have air all around us, but do we feel it, can we survive without it? Obviously, the answer
is no. But when this same air moves or shows some ‘gross’ virtues, such as its form
known as the ‘wind’ which is felt when the ‘breeze’ wafts gradually or a ‘storm’ blows
violently, it is then we can actually feel it bristling against our skins; but still we can’t see
it. Now, when this same air has pollutants in it, like smoke or coloured gases, we can
actually ‘see’ the air. The same thing applies to Brahm, the cosmic Consciousness. The
Viraat Purush is like the ‘wind’, and the rest of the creation that evolved from this single
Viraat Purush is like the various forms the same wind has taken in this world. The grosser
revelation of this Viraat Purush in the form of the visible world is akin to the instance of
smoke, coloured gases or other pollutants which make us see the invisible wind move. It
is the grossest form of the subtlest Brahm.]
Since Lord Shiva is Brahm personified, it is natural that all the honours and
epithets applied to Brahm would also apply to Shiva.
Hence, Shiva is ‘Advaita’—i.e. he is non-dual.
He is ‘Nishkal’—i.e. he has no Kalaas, i.e. no separate or distinct attributes,
forms, parts, divisions, variations and fractions as he is one immutable whole; one who
has no taints, faults, blemishes and imperfections that can scar his immaculacy and
purity; one who is immaculate and without any faults or blemishes as he is free from all
the corrupting influences of Maya representing delusions, conceit and deceit).
He is ‘Nishkriya’—i.e. he is not involved in any of the affairs of the world, as he
is totally neutral, detached and dispassionate, has renounced everything, and being self-
realised he knows that the deeds are done by the gross body and not by the Atma which is
merely a neutral witness of what the body does.
He is absolutely ‘Shaanta’—i.e. he is calm, peaceful, serene, rested, tranquil,
having no restlessness or agitations.
He is ‘Shiva’—i.e. he is an embodiment of the virtues of auspiciousness,
righteousness, truthfulness, divinity and holiness.
He is ‘Akshar’—i.e. he is imperishable and one who is represented by the divine
word OM.
He is ‘Avyaya’—i.e. he is not diminished; he is infinite; he is eternal, unchanging
and imperishable; he is not subject to degradation.
He is the eternal Lord (the Supreme Being; Brahm) from whom Hari (Vishnu the
sustainer), Har (Rudra the concluder) and Hiranyagarbha (Brahma the creator) have come
into being.
This supreme Creator and Lord of creation cannot be known or verified or judged
by proofs, evidences and logics.
The Lord has no beginning or end.’ (3).
[Note—1
Lord Shiva’s throat is dark blue or purple in colour. Since the glow and radiance
of the whole body of the Lord is golden but the throat had turned black because he had
kept the horrible poison he had drunk in his throat instead of allowing it to enter the
stomach. This corroding poison had emerged from the ocean when it was churned by the
Gods and Demons in search of Amrit, the elixir of eternity. The Lord had accepted to
drink it to protect the rest of the creation from getting scorched by its heat and toxins.
Since this creation is lodged in the Lord’s own self, in his abdomen, he had kept this
poison in the throat and did not allow it to enter his stomach. This resulted in the throat
getting permanently burnt. The dark blue or purple colour of the Lord’s throat is the
result of this single event and shows the Lord’s willingness to go to any length to grant
his unilateral protection to this creation.
It is very interesting to note that while on the one hand Lord Shiva is depicted as
being the concluder of creation—and this is assigned role amongst the Trinity of Gods
consisting of Brahma, whose role is to create, Vishnu, whose role is to sustain, nourish
and protect the creation, and Rudra (a form of Shiva), whose designated role is to bring
about the conclusion of this creation—but on the other hand he had allowed himself to be
permanently dis-coloured and take the risk of keeping the most horrible poison in
existence lodged inside his body because otherwise this poison would kill the creation
and scald everything in it to ashes. This is the reason why only Shiva is honoured as
being the ‘Maha-Deva’, the ‘great’ God. Though Vishnu shoulders the formidable, most
daunting and arduous task of taking care of the whole creation—and this is not a cake-
walk and a joke considering what a man experiences in life taking care of his single
family, what to talk of the whole society—this honour of being a Maha-Deva was not
bestowed upon him. The same thing applies to the grand old patriarch of creation called
Brahma who had not only created this gross world but even the sources of highest
wisdom in the form of the venerable scriptures, but was not honoured with this title.
Hence, Shiva is truly the Supreme Being personified. One of his functions is to
conclude this creation, and in this role he is known as Rudra, the angry form. But even as
the same Brahm is known to have revealed himself in the form of each and every unit of
creation which is extremely diverse and multifarious, the same Shiva has taken many
names and assumed many roles, one of which is ‘conclusion’.]”
credit: Ajai Kumar Chhawchharia
