Greatness of Shiva : Mahimnastava of Pushpadanta with commentary

18 MAHIMNASTAVA.

Thy companions are Pishachas! Besmeared art Thou with the ashes of the funeral pyre

Thy garland is a string of skulls.

Let even Thy name and nature appear inauspicious

Yet oh Giver of Blessings

To them who meditate on Thee they are supremely auspicious?

25 Thou art the great Truth beyond all words On Which the self-controlled deeply meditate® Fixing their thought abstracted from all outward things In the manner ordained by Yoga Restraining their breath+ Their hairs erect (with joy) Their eyes filled with tears of joy> Immersed, as it were, in a lake of the nectar of delight.

1 Inferior spirits generally of an unclean nature. Shiva befriends all.

2 An ordinary man who is attached to such inauspicious things is blamed. But here His extraordinary character is expressed. Nothing is inauspicious to Ishvara. The worshipper has nothing to do with this. However inauspicious these things appear to him to be, let him remember that Shiva is ever auspicious to those who worship him, (J. C.) It is only to the Jiva bound in separateness that some things are auspicious and others inauspicious ¢o fem. All such terms involve relativity. Around the Supreme all things are gathered in their natural order,

3 Here he deals with the Parabrahman Who is the inner Tattva (Antastattvam).

4 By Puraka, Rechaka, Kumbhaka. 5 Blissful tears as it is commonly said—Anandashru.

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