Shiva Manasa Pooja: Ultimate Guide to Inner Devotion and Spiritual Bliss

Shiva Manasa Pooja is composed by Adi Sankaracharya, my GOAT, and its one of my favorite go to bhajans that arrests my heart and stops time for me. The lyrics form a complete ritual performed entirely within our imagination, without needing any physical items, flowers, incense, or elaborate setups. The idea is even without any physical resources, through my mental workship (manasa pooja), I can worship Lord Shiva.

Sankara is asking us to truly engage with the meditative lyrics and seek a direct path to surrender by transforming the mind into a temple.

The stotra consists of five beautiful verses that guide the devotee through a full puja in the mind. The lyrics offer a vivid clarity of the process.

The first one starts with a jewel-studded seat laid out for Shiva, where we bathe Him with cool Himalayan waters, and dress him up in divine clothes. We offer fragrant sandalwood paste, fresh jasmine and bilva parta (leaves), incense, and a glowing lamp.

ratnaiḥ kalpitam āsanaṃ himajalaiḥ snānaṃ ca divyāmbaraṃ
nānāratnavibhūṣitaṃ mṛgamadāmodāṅkitaṃ candanam |
jātīcampakabilvapatraracitaṃ puṣpaṃ ca dhūpaṃ tathā
dīpaṃ deva dayānidhe paśupate hṛtkalpitaṃ gṛhyatām ||1||

In the second verse, we will give him a lavish feast. There’s sweet payasam (porridge) and ghee in a golden bowl studded with nine gems, five varieties of delicacies made from milk and curd, banana-based panakam, countless vegetables, scented water, burning camphor, and tambulam (betel leaf).

sauvarṇe navaratnakhaṇḍaracite pātre ghṛtaṃ pāyasaṃ
bhakṣyaṃ pañcavidhaṃ payodadhiyutaṃ rambhāphalaṃ pānakam |
śākānāmayutaṃ jalaṃ rucikaraṃ karpūrakhaṇḍojjvalaṃ
tāmbūlaṃ manasā mayā viracitaṃ bhaktyā prabho svīkuru ||2||

The third verse brings in royal honors in the form of sankalpa. We will offer an umbrella for shade, chamara fans, a spotless mirror, music from veena, drums, and songs, dances, full prostrations of praises.

chatraṃ cāmarayoryugaṃ vyajanakaṃ cādarśakaṃ nirmalaṃ
vīṇābherimṛdaṅgakāhalakalā gītaṃ ca nṛtyaṃ tathā |
śāṣṭāṅgaṃ praṇatiḥ stutirbahuvidhā hyetatsamastaṃ mayā
saṅkalpena samarpitaṃ tava vibho pūjāṃ gṛhāṇa prabho ||3||

Next comes my favorite verse, where our entire life is one big pooja in the name of Shiva. You are the Self, Girija is my intellect, pranas are Your companions, my body is Your abode. My walk is my devotion, my speech is my worship O Shambho. If this is not Advaita, dissolving the worshipper into the worshipped, turning daily actions into sacred service, I don’t know what else is.

ātmā tvaṃ girijā matiḥ sahacarāḥ prāṇāḥ śarīraṃ gṛhaṃ
pūjā te viṣayopabhogaracanā nidrā samādhisthitiḥ |
sañcāraḥ padayoḥ pradakṣiṇavidhiḥ stotrāṇi sarvā giro
yad yat karma karomi tat tad akhilaṃ śambho tavārādhanam ||4||

The final verse asks for forgiveness of all sins committed through body, speech, mind, or senses.

karacaraṇakṛtaṃ vākkāyajaṃ karmajaṃ vā
śravaṇanayanajaṃ vā mānasam vā aparādham |
vihitam avihitaṃ vā sarvam etat kṣamasva
jaya jaya karuṇābdhe śrīmahādeva śambho ||5||

I hope you will chant with me. Thank you. 

NOTE: I got the lyrics from GROK, please excuse any mistakes. 

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My Humble Tribute To The Carnatic Music Trio

{ Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri }