Brahmā, Vishṇu and the Śārva Stava

This account is told in chapter 24 of the Vāyu Purāṇa. At the start of a new cycle of creation, Brahmā and Vishṇu meet on the first ocean. Each enters the body of the other. Then Bhagavān Śiva appears, walking on the waters, and the two offer him a great hymn of praise, the Śārva Stava, of 160 verses.

The scene on the ocean

At the beginning of a new cycle of creation, Bhagavān Vishṇu lies on Ādiśesha on the first ocean, in yoga-nidrā (yogic sleep). A lotus rises from his navel, and Brahmā is born from the lotus.

Brahmā looks around and sees only the huge, silent ocean. Then he sees Vishṇu lying below. Two questions rise in Brahmā’s mind:

“Who am I?”
“Who is this Being on whose navel I sit?”

Brahmā goes down the stalk of the lotus and tries to enter the body of Vishṇu, to find his own origin. Bhagavān Vishṇu becomes aware of Brahmā. He is just as amazed, and he enters the body of Brahmā to learn the secret of this creator.

The two enter each other’s bodies

Brahmā and Vishṇu enter each other’s bodies at the same time.

Brahmā enters the body of Vishṇu and moves through it for thousands of divine years. He finds it without end. It holds all the worlds, all the devas, all the ṛshis and the whole Brahmāṇḍa.
Vishṇu enters the body of Brahmā and finds that it too holds endless worlds.

Neither can find the beginning or the end of the other’s body. Both come out of this meeting humble, full of wonder and full of devotion. They honour each other’s greatness, and they see that neither of them is the highest ground of all.

Bhagavān Śiva appears

Brahmā and Vishṇu stay on the cosmic ocean, still unsure of the final ground of all that is. Then Bhagavān Śiva appears, walking on the ocean. He looks like this:

He is self-shining, like ten thousand suns.
His matted hair (jaṭā) is decorated with the crescent moon.
He carries the trident (śūla), the drum (ḍamaru) and other divine weapons.
He has three eyes and a dark throat, and is called Nīlakaṇṭha.
His gaṇas (attendants) are with him.

Brahmā and Vishṇu look at him in wonder. They know at once that this is the source: Parameśvara, Mahādeva, the one whose feet even they cannot reach.

The Śārva Stava of 160 verses

Together, Brahmā and Vishṇu offer the Śārva Stava, a great stava (hymn of praise) of 160 ślokas (verses) to Bhagavān Śiva. Its main themes are these.

Śiva as the first cause

Ādikāraṇa means the first cause. The stava says: “You are the one before whom even we, the maker and the keeper of the worlds, stand as tools. Before you were, we were not. After you draw all back, we shall end.”

Śiva with five faces

The stava speaks to Śiva as Pañchavaktra, the five-faced one. His five faces are Sadyojāta, Vāmadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Īśāna. Each rules one direction of the world and one function.

Śiva as the ground of the Trimūrti

The stava says: “Brahmā creates, Vishṇu keeps, Rudra dissolves, but these three are not separate. In you the three are one. We are your three functions in the world; you are our eternal source.”

Śiva as Mahākāla

The stava praises Śiva as one with Kāla, time, the supreme time that measures, rules and consumes all the cycles of creation.

The grace of Śiva

The stava ends with a prayer: “Even though you are terrible to the unclean, you are kind to the one who takes shelter at your feet with a true heart. Give us the grace to remember you at all times, in all forms.”

Sources

Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 24