Brahmā-Nārāyaṇa Stava
The Brahmā-Nārāyaṇa Stava is a hymn to Parameśvara, Bhagavān Śiva, in his names of Rudra and Maheśvara. The Liṅga Purāṇa calls it by this name. It praises Bhagavān Śiva as the origin of the Vedas, of yoga and of all that exists. It ends with a description of his Viśvarūpa, his cosmic form. It is found in the Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 21.
The setting
This comes after the Jyotirlinga episode of Chapters 17 to 19. Bhagavān Brahmā was busy with the work of new creation. Then a fierce divine being came out from between his brows, in the fire of his anger (kopāgni). This was Rudra, the first coming forth of Rudra. Brahmā was startled and fell silent. The devas who were gathered there, and Bhagavān Vishṇu, knew Maheśvara in this being. Together they praised him with this stotra, which the text calls the Brahmā-Nārāyaṇa Śiva Stava.
The stotra
Namastubhyam bhagavate suvratānanta tejase
To Bhagavān Śiva, who gives limitless tejas (radiance) to those who keep the Pāśupata vrata (vow).
The word bhaga means six things: complete lordship (aiśvarya), fame (yaśas), the coming and going of beings (gamanāgamana), knowledge and ignorance (jñāna and avidyā), and wealth that does not run out. The one who has all six is called bhagavān.
Namaḥ kshetrādhipataye bījine śūline namaḥ
Namo jyeshṭhāya śreshṭhāya pūrvāya prathamāya ca
Namo mānyāya pūjyāya sadyojātāya vai namaḥ
To the master of all kshetras; to the Bījī, who bears the seed of creation; to the Śūlī; to the eldest, the greatest, the oldest and the first; to the one who is honoured, worshipped and saluted; to Sadyojāta.
Vedānāṃ prabhave caiva smṛtīnāṃ prabhave namaḥ
Prabhave karmadānānāṃ dravyāṇāṃ prabhave namaḥ
Namo yogasya prabhave sāṃkhyasya prabhave namaḥ
Namo dhruvanibaddhānām ṛshīṇāṃ prabhave namaḥ
To the origin of the Vedas; to the origin of the Smṛtis; to the origin of karma and its fruits, of material things, of yoga and of Sāṃkhya; to the master of the seven ṛshis fixed at the Dhruva maṇḍala.
Sarvataḥ pāṇipādāya rudrāyāpratimāya ca
Namo havyāya kavyāya havyāvāhāya vai namaḥ
To the one who is all hands and all feet, present everywhere; to the Rudra who has no equal; to the Havya, fit to receive the offerings of the devas, and the Kavya, fit to receive the offerings of the pitṛs; to the one who carries the offering. This is Agni, Śiva as Havyavāha.
Namo bali-nāyakāya dīptāya bhāskarāya ca
Namo buddhāya śuddhāya vistṛtāya matāya ca
Namaḥ sthūlāya sūkshmāya dṛśyādṛśyāya sarvaśaḥ
Varshate jvalate caiva vāyave śiśirāya ca
To the leader of the strong; to the blazing one, bright as the sun; to the enlightened, the pure, the all-pervading and the revered; to the gross and the subtle, the seen and the unseen; to the one who rains, blazes, blows as wind, and cools as the śiśira season.
Virūpākshāya liṅgāya piṅgalāya mahaujase
Vrishṭighnyāya namaścaiva namaḥ saumyekshaṇāya ca
Namo dhūmrāya śvetāya kṛshṇāya lohitāya ca
Piśitāya piśaṃgāya pītāya ca nishaṃgiṇe
To the three-eyed Virūpāksha; to the one whose form is the Liṅga; to the tawny (piṅgala) one of great splendour; to the one who stops the rains; to the one of gentle sight; to Dhūmra (smoky), Śveta (white), Kṛshṇa (black), Lohita (red), Piśaṃga (saffron) and Pīta (yellow), all the colours of Parameśvara; to the one who carries a quiver.
Namaḥ kshemyāya vṛddhāya vatsalāya namo namaḥ
Namo bhūtāya satyāya satyāsatyāya vai namaḥ
Namo vai padmavarṇāya mṛtyughnyāya ca mṛtyave
Namo gaurāya śyāmāya kadrave lohitāya ca
To the gracious one; to the ancient one; to the tender and loving one; to being and to truth; to both the real and the unreal; to the one of lotus colour; to the one who destroys mṛtyu (death) and to Mṛtyu himself; to Gaura, Śyāma, Kadru and Lohita.
Mahāsaṃdhyābhravarṇāya cārudīptāya dīkshine
Namaḥ kamalahastāya digvāsāya kapardiṇe
To the one the colour of clouds at the great sandhyā (twilight); to the one who blazes with grace, the initiated one; to the one with lotus hands; to the digvāsa (the one clothed in the sky); to the Kapardī.
Puraśaye guhāvāsī khacaro rajanīcaraḥ
Taponidhi guruguhā nandano nandavardhanah
The one who lives in the pura (the body, a city); who lives in the cave; who moves in the sky; who moves in the night; who is the treasure of tapas; who is Guruguhā (Kārttikeya); who is Nandana, the one who increases Nanda (Śiva’s joy).
Mṛgavyādhāya dakshāya dakshayajñaṃtakāya ca
To the hunter of Brahmā in the form of a deer, at the beginning of creation; to the able one; to the destroyer of Daksha’s yajña.
Sarvabhūtātmabhūtāya sarveśatiśayāya ca
Puraghnyāya suśastrāya dhanvine’tha paraśvadhine
Pūshadantavināśāya bhaganetrāntakāya ca
Kāmadāya varishṭhāya kāmāṃgadahanāya ca
To the ātmā of all beings; to the one who surpasses all masters; to the one who destroyed the three puras (cities); to the one with fine weapons, who carries the bow and the paraśu (axe); to the one who struck down Pūshan’s teeth; to the one who destroyed Bhaga’s eye; to the one who gives all desires and is the greatest; to the one who burned the body of Manmatha (Kāma).
The Viśvarūpa
The stotra ends with a vision of Parameśvara’s Viśvarūpa, his cosmic form.
“The earth that holds the three worlds is your feet, and the righteous attend it. Your belly is the home of all the siddhis of yoga. Your waist is the wide sky, adorned with stars and constellations. On your chest the glorious pearl necklace shines like pearls born of the Svāti rain. Your ten arms are the ten directions, adorned with keyūra and aṅgada (arm ornaments). The highest worlds are your head, adorned with lotus crowns. Your neck is broad, blue as fresh collyrium, and adorned with golden thread. It shines. Your face has fearsome tusks. No one can attack it and nothing equals it. It is adorned with a diadem of lotus garlands. The radiance in the sun is your light. In the moon it is the beauty of your body. In the mountains it is your firmness, in the wind your strength, in fire your heat, in water your coolness. In space it is your divine speech. From within the imperishable Akshara Brahman your cosmic marks come forth. The knowers of truth understand this.”
Japojapyo mahādevo mahāyogo maheśvaraḥ
Parameśvara is the japa (the repetition), the object of japa, the Mahādeva, the Mahāyogī and the Maheśvara.
The phalaśruti
The Liṅga Purāṇa gives the fruit of this stotra.
Ya idaṃ kīrtayed bhaktyā brahmanārāyaṇastavam
Śrāvayet vā dvijā vidvān śṛṇuyād vā samāhitaḥ
Aśvamedhāyutaṃ kṛtvā yat phalaṃ tad avāpnuyāt
A person who recites the Brahmā-Nārāyaṇa Stava with bhakti (devotion), or who as a learned person has it recited with understanding, or who hears it with full attention, gains the same fruit as doing ten thousand (ayuta) Aśvamedha yajñas.
Pāpācāro’pi yo martyaḥ śṛṇuyāc chiva sannidhau
Japet vāpi vinirmukto brahmaloka sa gacchati
Even a mortal whose conduct is full of pāpa (sin), if he hears this stotra near Bhagavān Śiva or recites it, is fully freed from his pāpas and reaches Brahmaloka.
Śrāddhe vā daivike kārye yajñe vā’vabhṛthāntike
Kīrtayeḍ vā satāṃ madhye sa yāti brahmaṇo’ntikam
If it is recited at a śrāddha, at a rite for the devas, in the yajñavāṭika (the yajña hall) at the end of the avabhṛtha snāna (the bath that closes a yajña), or aloud among good people, the person comes to live near Bhagavān Śiva.
Sources
- Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 21