Namaste Bhagwan Rudra — Shiv Puran Mantra
Meaning, pronunciation and word-by-word Sanskrit of Brahma's salutation to Rudra
Namaste Bhagwan Rudra is a verse of salutation from the Shiva Mahapurana, spoken by Brahma in praise of Maheshvara. In two lines it bows twice — first to Rudra, whose radiance is boundless as the sun, and then to Bhava, whose very being is the life-giving essence and the water that sustains all things.
Stotra verse — one śloka of Brahmā's praise of Śiva in the Śiva Purāṇa · 2h 21m chant
Listen
This is Spiritual Awakening's own long-form recording — the official way to listen. There is no separate audio hosted on this page.
Best suited for: Morning prayer and Shiva meditation · Peaceful night-time listening and deep sleep · Quiet devotional remembrance rather than counted japa · A calm sacred atmosphere at home
Sacred text
Devanagari
नमस्ते भगवान रुद्र भास्करामिततेजसे । नमो भवाय देवाय रसायाम्बुमयात्मने ॥
IAST transliteration
Namaste bhagavān rudra bhāskarāmita-tejase | Namo bhavāya devāya rasāyāmbumayātmane ||
Simple pronunciation
Na-mas-te Bha-ga-vaan Rud-ra Bhaas-ka-raa-mi-ta-te-ja-se; Na-mo Bha-vaa-ya De-vaa-ya Ra-saa-yaam-bu-ma-yaat-ma-ne
In this recording: The recording sets this single śloka as a slow, continuous loop, so the two lines return through the two and a half hours rather than moving on to the verses that follow in the Purāṇa.
Meaning
Salutation to you, Lord Rudra, whose divine radiance is boundless as the brilliance of the sun. Salutation to Bhava, the shining Lord, who is the life-giving essence and whose very being is made of water.
- Literal meaning
- Salutation to you, O Lord Rudra, to him whose splendour is immeasurable as the sun's; salutation to Bhava, to the shining one, to rasa, to him whose self is made of water.
- Devotional interpretation
- Two bows, and between them the whole range of what Shiva is. The first goes to Rudra as light — tejas without limit, measured against the sun and found larger. The second goes to Bhava, whose name simply means 'being', and it turns entirely: no blaze at all, but rasa, the sap and savour that runs through living things, and water, which has no shape of its own and gives shape to everything. Fire and water are not opposites here but a single reckoning. What burns beyond measure is also what nourishes; the God one might fear as Rudra is the God one drinks. That Brahmā — the creator himself — is the one bowing gives the verse its scale, and the recording keeps that scale by simply letting it return, again and again, until the two halves stop feeling like two.
Word-by-word meaning
| Word | IAST | Literal meaning | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| नमस्ते | namaste | salutation to you | namaḥ (salutation, homage) + te (to you), joined by sandhi. The bow is made directly, in the second person, before any epithet is offered. |
| भगवान | bhagavān | Lord, the Blessed One | From bhaga — fortune, majesty, glory. The one in whom all excellence resides; the ordinary and most complete way of addressing the Divine. |
| रुद्र | rudra | Rudra | The Vedic name of Shiva, the oldest by which he is called. Here it opens the verse's first half, the half given to radiance. |
| भास्करामिततेजसे | bhāskarāmita-tejase | to him whose radiance is boundless as the sun's | bhāskara (the sun, literally 'light-maker') + amita (immeasurable, unbounded) + tejas (splendour, fiery brilliance), in the dative. The sun is named only to be exceeded. |
| नमो | namo | salutation, I bow (from namaḥ) | namaḥ again, its ending softened before the voiced sound that follows. The second of the verse's two bows. |
| भवाय | bhavāya | to Bhava | A name of Shiva meaning 'being, becoming, existence itself' — the source from which all that is comes to be. |
| देवाय | devāya | to the shining one, to the God | From the root div, 'to shine'. A quiet echo of the first line's radiance, carried into the second. |
| रसाय | rasāya | to rasa — the essence, sap, savour | Rasa is the juice in a plant, the taste on the tongue, and the felt essence of a thing all at once. Written joined to the next word by sandhi (rasāya + ambumayātmane). |
| अम्बुमयात्मने | ambumayātmane | to him whose very self is made of water | ambu (water) + maya (made of, consisting in) + ātman (self), in the dative. Water takes no shape of its own and gives shape to everything that lives. |
नमस्तेnamaste
- Literal meaning
- salutation to you
- Explanation
- namaḥ (salutation, homage) + te (to you), joined by sandhi. The bow is made directly, in the second person, before any epithet is offered.
भगवानbhagavān
- Literal meaning
- Lord, the Blessed One
- Explanation
- From bhaga — fortune, majesty, glory. The one in whom all excellence resides; the ordinary and most complete way of addressing the Divine.
रुद्रrudra
- Literal meaning
- Rudra
- Explanation
- The Vedic name of Shiva, the oldest by which he is called. Here it opens the verse's first half, the half given to radiance.
भास्करामिततेजसेbhāskarāmita-tejase
- Literal meaning
- to him whose radiance is boundless as the sun's
- Explanation
- bhāskara (the sun, literally 'light-maker') + amita (immeasurable, unbounded) + tejas (splendour, fiery brilliance), in the dative. The sun is named only to be exceeded.
नमोnamo
- Literal meaning
- salutation, I bow (from namaḥ)
- Explanation
- namaḥ again, its ending softened before the voiced sound that follows. The second of the verse's two bows.
भवायbhavāya
- Literal meaning
- to Bhava
- Explanation
- A name of Shiva meaning 'being, becoming, existence itself' — the source from which all that is comes to be.
देवायdevāya
- Literal meaning
- to the shining one, to the God
- Explanation
- From the root div, 'to shine'. A quiet echo of the first line's radiance, carried into the second.
रसायrasāya
- Literal meaning
- to rasa — the essence, sap, savour
- Explanation
- Rasa is the juice in a plant, the taste on the tongue, and the felt essence of a thing all at once. Written joined to the next word by sandhi (rasāya + ambumayātmane).
अम्बुमयात्मनेambumayātmane
- Literal meaning
- to him whose very self is made of water
- Explanation
- ambu (water) + maya (made of, consisting in) + ātman (self), in the dative. Water takes no shape of its own and gives shape to everything that lives.
Translations are prepared with editorial review against the Sanskrit text, transliteration and English master meaning. Sanskrit words may carry layers of meaning that no single translation can fully express.
How to chant
Preparation
- Sit or lie comfortably and let the breath slow before the first line.
- Read the meaning once; the verse has two halves, so take them one at a time.
Pronunciation notes
- Na-mas-te — even and unstressed, not 'na-MAS-tay'.
- Bhās-ka-rā-mi-ta-te-ja-se — long on 'bhās' and 'rā', then light and quick to the end.
- Ra-sā-yām-bu-ma-yāt-ma-ne — the two words join in the middle; keep it flowing rather than breaking it.
- The 'bh' and 'th' sounds are single aspirated consonants, not two letters.
How many times
As a verse of praise it is not counted on a mālā. Recite it once at the opening of worship, or let it repeat slowly — as in this recording — while the attention rests.
To close
Let the final namaḥ settle in silence before you rise.
How to use the recording
Chanting along
Follow the two lines softly; the loop returns often enough to learn it by ear.
Meditation
Move gently between the verse's two images — boundless light, then sustaining water — and let the mind settle wherever it prefers.
Prayer or pūjā
Play it at the opening of a home pūjā or Rudrābhiṣeka, as a salutation before offering.
Sleep listening
Keep the volume low and let the repetition carry you down; nothing in the recording rises to startle you awake.
Morning practice
A steady opening to a Shiva-centred morning, before the day becomes loud.
Background atmosphere
Let it run quietly while you work, read or rest at home.
Background & sourcesClassification, origin, historical context, symbolism, intentions & occasions
What kind of sacred text is this?
This is a stotra verse — one śloka of a longer praise. It is pure namaskāra: two salutations, each followed by the epithets that say whom the bow is for, with no request made and nothing asked in return. It belongs to the hymn Brahmā offers to Maheshvara in the Śiva Purāṇa.
Origin and textual source
- Tradition / work
- Śiva Mahāpurāṇa (Shiv Puran)
- Section
- Vāyavīya Saṃhitā, Pūrvabhāga, chapter 12 — the hymn in which Brahmā offers praise to Maheshvara
- Attribution
- Vyāsa (traditional attribution of the Purāṇas)
- Variants
- Editions differ over whether to print bhāskarāmitatejase as one compound or as bhāskara-amita-tejase; the reading is the same.
- The following line, 'śarvāya kṣitirūpāya nandīsurabhaye namaḥ', continues the sequence of salutations in the Purāṇa; this recording sets the first two lines alone.
Historical and devotional context
The Vāyavīya Saṃhitā is the last of the Śiva Purāṇa's seven saṃhitās, and this verse sits inside a hymn where Brahmā — the creator himself — stands before Maheshvara and praises him. Verses of this shape are among the oldest devotional forms in Sanskrit: a bow, then the name, then the epithet that says who is being bowed to, repeated until the whole nature of the deity has been walked through. The same salutation also travels outside the Purāṇa in collections of Brahmā's praise of Shiva.
Because the verse only salutes and asks for nothing, it is used wherever the mood is remembrance rather than petition — at morning prayer, during Rudrābhiṣeka, on Mondays and Maha Shivaratri, and, as in this recording, as a slow repeating chant through the night. Its two halves give the mind something to move between: the boundless light, and the water that sustains.
Symbolism and inner meaning
- The sun is invoked only as a measure, and then exceeded — tejas that no comparison can contain.
- Rasa is sap, taste and essence at once: the divine met not as spectacle but as the savour inside living things.
- Water has no shape of its own and gives shape to all that lives; to call Shiva's very self ambumaya is to place him beneath everything rather than above it.
- Fire in the first line, water in the second — the verse holds what seems opposed as one nature, and the bow is the same either way.
Traditionally associated intentions
Traditional purpose
- Namaskāra — salutation and praise of Shiva
- Recited within Brahmā's hymn to Maheshvara in the Śiva Purāṇa
- Morning prayer and devotional remembrance
Devotional intentions
- Devotion
- Reverence
- Stillness and inner quiet
- Remembrance
This recording is for
- Long-form listening through the night
- Slow morning Shiva meditation
- A quiet, Shiva-centred atmosphere at home
- Falling asleep with the mantra continuing
A note on wellbeing: Many people find a slow, unchanging chant settling at the end of the day and steadying at the start of it. This is a devotional practice — not medical treatment for any condition.
When is it traditionally chanted?
Maha Shivaratri and Mondays
Shiva's days, when salutation and abhiṣeka are traditionally offered — a natural time to recite the verse before worship.
Morning prayer
The recording is arranged to suit first light as readily as last thing at night.
Sawan / Shravan month
The monsoon month devoted to Shiva, when many households keep long Shiva chants playing through the day.
Related mantras
2h 34mKarpur Gauram Karunavataram — Shiva Stuti
कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं संसारसारम् भुजगेन्द्रहारम् । सदावसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे भवं भवानी सहितं नमामि ॥
2h 31mSomnath Jyotirlinga Mantra
सौराष्ट्रदेशे विशदेऽतिरम्ये ज्योतिर्मयं चन्द्रकलावतंसम्। भक्तिप्रदानाय कृपावतीर्णं तं सोमनाथं शरणं प्रपद्ये॥
2h 31mTrimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Mantra
सह्याद्रिशीर्षे विमले वसन्तं गोदावरीतीरपवित्रदेशे । यद्दर्शनात्पातकमाशू नाशं प्रयाति तं त्र्यम्बकमीशमीडे ॥