श्री रुद्र - अनुवाक १ - मन्त्र ४

यामिषुं गिरिशंत हस्ते बिभर्ष्यस्तवे |
शिवां गिरित्र तां कुरु मा हिंसी पुरुषं जगत् ||४||


O! Girishanta! The arrow you are holdingto be discharged at the enemies, please make it harmless to us men and also our animals and other inanimate objects in the world.


गिरिशंत - has been explained earlier as the one staying high up in the Kailash and making his devotees happy or the one who stays in the clouds and makes the world happy by pouring rain.


 गिरित्र means: by remaining in the Kailash He protects it or becomes the cause of its glory. He protects the clouds by making them rain or protects the chariot (formed by various divine elements) in which He rode to destroy Tripurasura, i.e. protects the Gods that make the chariot or protects or grants the speech or prayers of His devotees or protects even the sinner if he sincerely prays to Him according to Abhinava Sankara. Girishanta and Giritra mean one and the same. So this explanation gives a special meaning justifying the use of two words with the same meaning.


The arrow was taken out to be shot  at the Tripuras. The Tripuras burnt like a heap of cotton and the arrow had done its expected work. May the same arrow become auspicious so far as I, my people, animals and even inanimate objects are concerned. Turn your arrow away from us.


Vishnusuri: Prakriti has two shaktis, getting transformed and causing transformation. The first shakti is called vikshepa and the second one kala (time). If this is not accepted there will be chaos. The powers of maya are therefore three: kala, avaran (concealing) and vikshepa (projecting).


The fruition of an action occurs in time. The avaran shakti makes one lose the correct perception as his memory is affected. Projecting names and forms is caused by vikshepa. All the three maya shaktis kala, avaran and vikshepa are subservient to Ishwara. So in this mantra kala shakti is spoken of. Ishu, is kala shakti as it afflicts the intelligence of jiva like an arrow. The meaning of the mantra is: O! Girishanta, you hold kala shakti in your hand to direct it on the jivas. We are afraid, because everything is subservient in time ( in the sense karmas come to fruition in time). गिरि is here the world. One who protects the world by granting illumination is गिरित्र. So see that the jivas are not frightened. Use kala shakti in such a way that jivas are out of fear. May not kala shakti cause loss of memory etc.

श्री रुद्र - अनुवाक १ - मन्त्र ३

या ते रुद्र शिवा तनूरघोरापापकशिनी |
तया नस्तनुवा शन्तमया गिरिशन्ताभिचाकशीहि  ||३||


In this mantra eternal happiness which results from liberating knowledge, तत्वज्ञान, is prayed for.


O! Rudra, in your benign form, which does not harm us, you reside in the kailash mountain. Reveal that form conferring happiness on me.


Shiva has two forms, benign and dreadful. Here the benign form is addressed.


गिरिशन्त - One who staying on a mountain (Kailash) confers happiness on beings. शन्तमया - that which is full of bliss. अभिचाकशीहि - reveal thy benign form to me. अघोरा - that which is not terrifying i.e. benign. अपापकशिनी - the form that does not cause grief. In this benign form there are no weapons. It may also mean the form that does not reveal the sins committed by the votary as they have been destroyed by revealing the benign form. शन्तमया - the form that gives immense happiness or confers infinite bliss on the devotee.


Appear before us with this auspicious form of yours. गिरिशन्त - One who stays high up in the mountains and protects all the beings. It may also mean protecting life in form of clouds pouring rain. Or it may mean that He stays in speech - गिरि - in the Vedas in form of meaning. That is, He is the essence of the Vedas or being indicated by pranava, is the object of meditation conferring eternal bliss. अपापकशिनी - may also mean that which gives ज्ञान which destroys sins. In this sense, according to Abhinava Sankara अभिचाकशीहि  means - reveal to me the Truth (आत्मतत्व)


Vishnusuri: At the end of a long discussion Vishnusuri concludes as follows: In Ishwara's anthahkaran which is nothing but His own maya, the modification  caused by its going out to external objects is avidya vritti, whereas the one which is caused by turning the gaze towards inner self is vidya vritti. These two vrittis, the vidya vritti and the avidya vritti, are His two bodies.


The avidya vritti which causes, according to fruits of actions of the jivas, transmigratory existence, delusion etc. is called अशिव - inauspicious whereas the vidya vritti which ends in the experience of infinite Bliss is शिव - auspicious.


So in the present mantra; अघोरा means a benign form , that is, the one that puts an end to the dreadful transmigratory existence. अपाप is Atman - that which is free from all the sins.


काशिनि- प्रकाशिनि reveals. The benign form, the vidya vritti, reveals Atman and puts an end to samsara. This samsara itself is difficult to surmount, like a steep hill. Jiva and Ishwara are both present in the samsara (The former attached and miserable and the latter, the unattached witness).


So Shiva is called as गिरिशन्त  - staying high on a mountain शन्तमया - by that form which is vidya shakti  - reveal your स्वरूप by removing अविद्या in me and lead me to liberation. 

श्री रुद्र - अनुवाक १ - मन्त्र २

या त इशु: शिवतमा शिवं बभूव ते धनु: |
शिवा शरव्या यातव तयानो रुद्र म्रुदय    ||२||


O! Lord Rudra your arrow has become benevolent and benign. Similarly your bow - Pinaka, your quiver - Sharavya, also have become peaceful. Make us happy with these weapons.


The Lord is holding the bow and the arrow and is seated in a chariot along with Uma and has a benign smile. This is the form for contemplation. The repetition of this mantra is used for warding off the calamities such as famine.


Vishnusuri: इशु has already been explained as jiva. शरव्या is explained as that in which the jiva finds itself i.e. maya. So the prayer as per Vishnusuri is for granting one happiness by making this maya ineffective.

श्री रुद्र - अनुवाक १ - मन्त्र १

श्री रुद्र consists of Eleven Anuvakas. In the first, consisting of 15 mantras, we pray to the Rudra Shakti for His grace. He has two forms: The "Rudra" form which is terrifying and destructive and the "Shiva" form which is benign.

 

ॐ नमस्ते रुद्र मन्यव उतोत इशवे नम:|
नमस्ते अस्तु धन्वने बाहुभ्यामुतते नम:||१||

 

रुद्र - O! Rudra ते मन्यवे to your anger नम: salutations. उत ते इशवे नम: Again, salutations to your arrow. नमस्ते अस्तु धन्वने Salutations to your bow उत ते बाहुभ्याम नम: again salutations to your arms (which wield the bow).

 

Rudra:

 

The term is derived in various ways as follows:

1. Who makes us speak

2. Who makes people understand everything by words (language)

3. Who makes us conscious of our dharmas through Vedas

4. Who leads us to self knowledge through repetition of pranavas

5. Who removes sins and melts in compassion

6. Who makes people cry at the time of dissolution of the universe

7. Who removes the miseries of the Sansara by His grace

8. Who enters the hearts of people as Nada Bramha

9. Who imparts spiritual knowledge to seekers of the Truth through Upanishads

10. Who imparted to Bramha, the creator, the truth (knowledge of the Vedas) at the time of creation

 

These meanings are derived from the word रु, to produce sound, to cry and रुद्, to shed tears and द्रु, to flow, run, melt.

 

मन्यु is anger. This is the root of all miseries. Rudra's anger causes destruction. So to propitiate Him, salutations first to Rudra, who is anger embodied. It may mean: manyu - anger is the Shakti of the Lord and therefore our salutations to Him so that He may not use it against us for our transgressions of the eternal moral codes. Again, manyu is the cause of misery.

 

The word Rudra is derived as the one who melts the manyu within us. Salutations to you arrow - इशवे, Salutations to your bow - धन्वने  and the arms - बाहुभ्याम that wield it.

 

Swami Amritanand ji has, in his book, also covered the interpretations of Vishnusuri. Any mistakes in reproducing these are my own.

 

Vishnusuri: Rudra represents the Atman and arrow means jivatman, which when discharged merges into paramatman. Manyu is the maya shakti of the Lord. Rudradhaya is an Upanishad. Its subject matter is the all-pervasiveness of Rudra. Rudra is the self of everything. Jiva is essentially Rudra however his agnyana makes him think that he is different.

 

So salutations to the maya shakti of the Lord which is manyu and which makes the jiva feel helpless and miserable.

 

The bow is pranava. The Lord is the goal of the pranava and holds the bow. The two arms of the Lord are the two powers of maya, the concealing power and the distorting or projecting power - avarana Shakti and vikshepa Shakti. These may also mean dharma and adharma which confer happiness and misery on the jiva according to his prarabdha karma.

 

Shri Ganeshaya Namah. I have always been mesmerized by the various Vedic mantras and always thought that they were in themselves a vast pool of knowledge. However the most mystic thing about them is that their interpretation goes way beyond their word by word meaning.

I searched for these interpretations online but was unable to find anything of sorts. Recently searching for some books at the local Ramkrishna Math Library, I found some books that gave a very good insight in the knowledge contained in these mantras.

I have decided to make an effort to capture these, to the best of my abilities, and post them here.

I am starting with the translation and interpretation of Shri Rudra by Swami Amritanandji Maharaj.

I pray to Lord Rudra that anyone who stumbles upon this blog finds this as useful and interesting as I have found it to be.

ओम शांती: शांती: शांती: