Guest guest Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Om namaH shivaaya! Shri gurubhyo namaH! Namaste Advaitins, In this lunar month of Karthika, people from certain parts (mainly south) of India, pray to Lord Shiva. Incidentally, this month comes before the month devoted to Vishnu Puja (Margashira) and after the month devoted to Devi Puja (Ashvayuja). The latter itself comes after the month devoted to Ganapati Puja (Bhadapada), making this " quad-mester " a series of spiritual practices. Of the many prayers to Lord Shiva, ones who cannot chant Vedic Hymns chant other prayers. One such prayer is the Shiva Mahimna Stotram written by Pushpadanta. (Another such prayer is Shankaracharya's Dakshinamurthy Stotram). An audio rendering of Shiva Mahimna Stotra by Brahma Shri Pandit Narendra Kapre can be found at the following link: http://www-rocq.inria.fr/~upadrast/Music/Shiv_Mahimna/ The story of the legend, the text of the stotra, and a meaning of it is available at the following Sanskrit Docs link. http://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/shivamahi.pdf Namaste Ramakrishna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 Dear Ramakrishna, Namaste. Thanks a lot for providing the hymn sung by a great Rgvedic Scholar Shri Narendra kapre under whom i learnt some portions of Rg Veda and some of the esoteric secrets of Asyavamiya Sukta of Rg Veda. Shri Kapre-ji stands apart in Chandi Anushtana and was approved as foremost among Rgvedic Scholars during Ganapati Vakyartha Sadas by Shri Bharati Tirtha Swamigal at Sringeri. Now, coming to the point. Siva Mahimnah Stotra of Pushpadantacharya forms one of the 5 hymns from Siva Panchastavi. A great sroutha saiva scholar Shri VishWArAdhya of 11 century wrote a wonderful commentary on Siva Panchastavi. Apart from Shri VishwArAdhya, Shri Madhusudhana Saraswati, a great advaitic scholar of " advaita siddhi " fame also wrote a wonderful gloss on the 1st hymn ie., PushpadantAchArya krita Siva Mahimnah Stavah. This Siva Mahimnah Stavah was first observed as the " engravings " on the temple walls in the garbhAlaya of Amareshwara Jyotirliga at Omkareshwar of Madhya Pradesh which dates back to 985 AD. The mUla slokas on the temple walls are from 1 - 31 slokas only and the rest of the slokas were incorporated later. This hymn was probably composed in the year 548 - 513 BC and the author is KatyAyana Vararuchi alias PushpadantAchArya. A profile of KatyAyana Vararuchi A great mahArashtra smArta brahmin by name Deva Dutta who wrote " vArtikAs " on Panini Vyakarana, author of patra kaumudi, svargarohana,katyAyana srauta sutras. Since gotra is kata, hence known as kAtyAyana. Also a great grammarian. There was a tradition among great grammarians where Siva was exclusively worshipped in Sriyantra as Agni-tattva and this tradition can be can be traced back to the period of Mahabharata. So, if we carefully observe the Mahimnah Stavah, kAtyAyana vararuchi belonged to this class of upasakas of srividya. This hymn is a masterpiece and a feat that demonstrates the grammatical knowledge of Vararuchi alias Pushpadantacharya. This hymn encodes a great mantra of 15 bija aksharas which is called " Siva Panchadashakshari Mahamantra " Katyayana Vararuchi stotra composed by my gurunatha: katagotramahambhOdhi - rAkApUrNanishAkaram puShpadanta maham vandE - nAmnA vararuchim munim namo vararuchE tubhyam - sarvAgamavishArada pANinIyamahambhOdhi - karNadhArAya sUrayE sabdasAstrapayOvArdhEh - pratibhA yasya mandarah kAtyAyanamunim vandE - mAnyam vararuchim hridA sivatattvanidhim stotram - mahimnahpadapUrvakam yO(a)karottam vararuchim - puShpadantam namAmyaham bhAsyArthabhAsanE yasya - vAk cchruteh sarvathA samA namAmi puShpadantam tam - shAbdikam haravandinam siddhapramyam puShpadantam - kAtyam vararuchim munim sivavandigaNashrEShTham - namAmi karaNaih stribhih anugrahENa kAtyasya - yathAshakti niruchyatE sItarAmAnjanEyEna - shaivOham mahimastavah anugrihNAtu bhagavAn - mahAdEvO jagatguruh anugrihNAntu guravah - santaschEmam janam hridA // iti shrI sItArAmAnjanEya kavi virachita vararuchi stotram // with regs, sriram advaitin , " uramakrsna " <uramakrishna wrote: > > Om namaH shivaaya! > Shri gurubhyo namaH! > > Namaste Advaitins, > > In this lunar month of Karthika, people from certain parts (mainly south) of > India, pray to Lord Shiva. Incidentally, this month comes before the month > devoted to Vishnu Puja (Margashira) and after the month devoted to Devi Puja > (Ashvayuja). The latter itself comes after the month devoted to Ganapati > Puja (Bhadapada), making this " quad-mester " a series of spiritual practices. > > Of the many prayers to Lord Shiva, ones who cannot chant Vedic Hymns chant > other prayers. One such prayer is the Shiva Mahimna Stotram written by > Pushpadanta. (Another such prayer is Shankaracharya's Dakshinamurthy > Stotram). > > An audio rendering of Shiva Mahimna Stotra by Brahma Shri Pandit Narendra > Kapre can be found at the following link: > http://www-rocq.inria.fr/~upadrast/Music/Shiv_Mahimna/ > > The story of the legend, the text of the stotra, and a meaning of it is > available at the following Sanskrit Docs link. > http://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/shivamahi.pdf > > Namaste > Ramakrishna > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Dear Sriram-ji, advaitin , " babi " <sriram_sapthasathi wrote: > > Narendra kapre under whom i learnt some portions of Rg Veda and some of > the esoteric secrets of Asyavamiya Sukta of Rg Veda. > Shri Kapre-ji stands apart in Chandi Anushtana and was approved as > foremost among Rgvedic Scholars during Ganapati Vakyartha Sadas by Shri > Bharati Tirtha Swamigal at Sringeri. He is my Vedic Guruji, and I too feel that I have been blessed by meeting him! (In fact, the story of me meeting him, in California of all places, makes me believe the oft repeated story of bee and flower!) > Siva Mahimnah Stotra of Pushpadantacharya forms one of the 5 hymns from > Siva Panchastavi. A great sroutha saiva scholar Shri VishWArAdhya of 11 > century wrote a wonderful commentary on Siva Panchastavi. Can you please let us know about these other four? > Apart from Shri VishwArAdhya, Shri Madhusudhana Saraswati, a great > advaitic scholar of " advaita siddhi " fame also wrote a wonderful gloss on > the 1st hymn ie., PushpadantAchArya krita Siva Mahimnah Stavah. I have recently been presented the commentary of Madhusudhana Sarasvati from the revered Chokhambha Press of Varanasi: as suggested by Shri Sastri-ji. I am slowly reading it, and it is indeed a beautiful commentary. It is a dual commentary, in hara-paxa and hari-paxa (making Hara ahd Hari the subject of the stotra) truly exposing the non-dual nature of Shiva, the subject of this stotram. I would post some notes on it as I complete it. > This Siva Mahimnah Stavah was first observed as the " engravings " on the > temple walls in the garbhAlaya of Amareshwara Jyotirliga at Omkareshwar of > Madhya Pradesh which dates back to 985 AD. The mUla slokas on the temple > walls are from 1 - 31 slokas only and the rest of the slokas were > incorporated later. This is perhaps why Madhusudhana Sarasvati chose to write the commentary only for these shlokas. > This hymn was probably composed in the year 548 - 513 BC and the author is > KatyAyana Vararuchi alias PushpadantAchArya. So, this stotra preceds Adi Shankara? Because of the close similarity of shloka #7 of devii-aparAdha-xamapana stotra (chitaabhasmalepo) and shloka #24 of this stotra (shmashaaneShvAkrIDA ...) I thought otherwise. Incidentally, M.S writes the hari-paxa commentary to this shloka, with the 'amaN^galatva' referred to jIvatva itself, interpretig the 'putra-bhAryadayaH' as 'pishaachaaH' for a jn~Ani (viveki)! > A profile of KatyAyana Vararuchi ... > So, if we carefully observe the Mahimnah Stavah, kAtyAyana vararuchi > belonged to this class of upasakas of srividya. This hymn is a masterpiece > and a feat that demonstrates the grammatical knowledge of > Vararuchi alias Pushpadantacharya. This hymn encodes a great mantra of 15 > bija aksharas which is called " Siva Panchadashakshari Mahamantra " > > Katyayana Vararuchi stotra composed by my gurunatha: Thanks for sharing this. It is a really beautiful stotra. My namaskaarams to your guru parampara praNAmaH to all advaitinaH! Ramakrishna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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