Saubhagyahrdayastotra by Sivananda

by Brian Campbell and Ben Williams | 2024 | 11,962 words

This is the English translation of the Saubhagyahrdayastotra (“praise to the heart of auspiciousness”) by Sivananda (fl. 13th century South India), who was one of the earliest interpreters of the Tantric tradition of goddess worship known as Shri-Vidya. The Saubhagyahrdaya Stotra embodies Shivananda’s synthesis of foundational Shaiva doctrine, Kund...

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Verse 2 (text and translation)

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2:

त्रिधा विभक्तं यद् वस्तु स्तोतृस्तुत्यस्तुतिक्रमात् ।
एकस्मै महसे तस्मै नमः सकलचक्षुषे ॥ २ ॥

tridhā vibhaktaṃ yad vastu stotṛstutyastutikramāt |
ekasmai mahase tasmai namaḥ sakalacakṣuṣe || 2 ||

Salutations to that one illuminating power, the eye that sees through all beings, a reality that transforms into these three: the poet, the praise poem, and the object of praise!

Notes:

In this verse, Śivānanda continues to praise Śiva as mahas, but this time as the nondual source of all knowledge that transforms into the three foundational aspects of knowing—found pervasively across Indic thought as prameya (knowledge), pramāṇa (the method of knowing), pramātṛ (the knower). Śivānanda relates this epistemological triad to his own stotra in that he (the author), the text he is writing (Saubhāgyahṛdayastotra), and the object of praise (the goddess Tripurasundarī), are all transformations of the single illuminating power of consciousness known as Śiva.

This verse has a close parallel to an opening verse in Somānanda's Śivadṛṣṭi that offers salutations to the omnipresent Śiva as follows:

अस्मद्रूपसमाविष्टः स्वात्मनात्मनिवारणे ।
शिवः करोतु निजया नमः शक्त्या ततात्मने ॥ १॥

asmadrūpasamāviṣṭaḥ svātmanātmanivāraṇe |
śivaḥ karotu nijayā namaḥ śaktyā tatātmane || 1||

“May Śiva, who has penetrated my form by warding himself off by means of his own self, pay homage to his (all-)extensive self by means of his own power.”[1]

Abhinavagupta, in his Kramastotra, teaches about this same triadic relationship between the Self, the poet, and praise in a slightly more detailed manner as follows:

विमृश्य स्वात्मानं विमृशति पुनः स्तुत्यचरितं तथा स्तोता स्तोत्रे प्रकटयति भेदैकविषये ।
विमृष्टश् च स्वात्मा निखिलविषयज्ञानसमये तद् इत्थं त्वत्स्तोत्रे ऽहम् इह सततं यत्नरहितः ॥ २ ॥

vimṛśya svātmānaṃ vimṛśati punaḥ stutyacaritaṃ tathā stotā stotre prakaṭayati bhedaikaviṣaye |
vimṛṣṭaś ca svātmā nikhilaviṣayajñānasamaye tad itthaṃ tvatstotre 'ham iha satataṃ yatnarahitaḥ || 2 ||

“Becoming fully aware of the innate Self, one then realizes that its activities are worthy of praise. The poet then makes [that Self] manifest in a hymn of praise, which is based on duality. And the moment there is a cognition of any object, one’s own self is realized. Thus, I constantly praise you effortlessly.”[2]

भव प्राज्यैश्वर्यप्रथितबहुशक्तेर् भगवतो विचित्रं चारित्रं हृदयम् अधिशेते यदि ततः ।
कथं स्तोत्रं कुर्याद् अथ च कुरुते तेन सहसा शिवैकात्म्यप्राप्तौ शिवनतिर् उपायः प्रथमकः ॥ ६ ॥

bhava prājyaiśvaryaprathitabahuśakter bhagavato vicitraṃ cāritraṃ hṛdayam adhiśete yadi tataḥ |
kathaṃ stotraṃ kuryād atha ca kurute tena sahasā śivaikātmyaprāptau śivanatir upāyaḥ prathamakaḥ || 6 ||

“O Śiva, if the diverse activities of God whose divine energies expand through his vast sovereignty rest in the Heart, then how could there be praise? But there is. Therefore, bowing to Śiva is the preeminent means for the sudden realization of oneness with Śiva.”[3]

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Translation by Nemec 2011, 100.

[2]:

Translation by Ben Williams and James Reich.

[3]:

Translation by Ben Williams and James Reich.

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