There is only one hope for me, O Lord Shiva, and that is Your grace

In verses, 52-53 from The Magical Jewel of Devotion in Kashmir Shaivism – Stava Cintamani, by Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇa, Swamiji exclaimed (as he translated Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇa‘s hymns), “There is only one hope for me, O Lord Shiva, and that is Your grace”.

Read and listen to both verses in the video below, an excerpt taken from the 2022 Fall Retreat…

उपासंहृतकामाया कामायतिमतन्वते ।

अवतंसितसोमाय सोमाय स्वामिने नमः ॥५२॥

upāsaṁhṛtakāmāyā kāmāyatimatanvate /

avataṁsitasomāya somāya svāmine namaḥ //52//

I bow to my Master who is Lord Śiva, who has upasaṁhṛta kāmāyā, who has discarded all desires, who has no desires, and who is the producer of all desires. He produces all desires and He is beyond the cycle of desires. I bow to that Lord Śiva.¹⁰⁸

Avatam sita somāya, and that Lord Śiva who has decorated His forehead with the crescent moon (somāya is He who is embraced and married to Ūmā, Pārvatī), I bow to that Lord Śiva who is married to soma (soma means, Ūmā), with Ūmā, who is always with Ūmā – Ūmā is Pārvatī. And āvataṁ sita somāya, who has decorated His forehead with the crescent moon, and who is the producer of all desires, and who is beyond desires, I bow to that Lord Śiva.

किमशक्तः करोमीति सर्वत्रानध्यवस्यतः ।

सर्वानुग्राहिका शक्तिः शाङ्करी शरणं मम ॥५३॥

kimaśaktaḥ karomīti sarvatrānadhyavasyataḥ /

sarvānugrāhikā śaktiḥ śāṅkarī śaraṇaṁ mama //53//

In each and every avenue of this journey of life, in each and every turning point of this life, . . .

So when you begin one kind of life and you have to change it to another way, that is an avenue – that changing diversion.

. . . at that moment, at that place, at that point, I become helpless, I can’t change. Kim aśakta karomīti, for instance, when a change comes, if my master dies – it is a change in your life – if my husband dies, my wife dies, my son dies – it is a change in life – there, what to do, I don’t know; I am aśakta, it is beyond my power to fix myself at that point. Sarva-trānadhya vasyataḥ, in the same way, in each and every avenue of this life, I am helpless, I become helpless. Sarvatra anadhya vasyataḥ, and I have no sources of being protected, on all sides. And there is only one hope for me, O Lord Śiva, and that is Your grace. If You grace me on these occasions, I will be with life, otherwise I am gone. So, the only hope for me for protection is just Your grace, Your helping hand. If You don’t help me on these occasions, I am lost.

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¹⁰⁸ “If You’ve destroyed all desires, where are they existing in Your Being so that You could bestow them on others?” Stava Cintāmaṇi (1990).

Source: The Magical Jewel of Devotion in Kashmir Shaivism –
Stava Cintamani, by Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇa,
revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo.

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