Nirvana Shatkam by Adi Shankaracharya

Note: In Hinduism, Nirvana is the supreme state free from the individual suffering that is caused by identification with the Body-Mind-Intellect complex. Nirvana is the natural element of the Atman/Shiva. This  8^th. Century composition by Adi Shankacharya is alternately known as ‘Atma Shatkam’.

Neither Mind, nor Intellect; Neither Thought, nor cognizing Ego am I:

Neither am I the sense organs of Sight, Hearing, or Taste.

I am neither Sky nor Earth, neither Fire nor Wind:

I am Formless Bliss-Consciousness – I am Shiva, Shiva am I.

Neither animating Breath, nor the five-fold Vital Airs;

Neither the Five Organs nor the Five Sheaths;

Nor the faculties of speech, action or movement:

I am Formless Bliss-Consciousness – I am Shiva, Shiva am I.

I know neither aversion nor attachment, nor delusion,

I covet not, not do I have pride or envy:

Driven not by obligation, selfish urges, or desires, nor yearning for Liberation:

I am Formless Bliss-Consciousness – I am Shiva, Shiva am I.

I am beyond Virtue and Sin, as also Pleasure and Pain;

Needing no holy chants or sacred pilgrimages; neither scriptures nor rituals;

I am not the one who experiences, or that which is experienced, or the experiential:

I am Formless Bliss-Consciousness – I am Shiva, Shiva am I.

I know not Death, nor division of caste;

I have no father, nor mother, nor even birth;

Neither kin, nor friend, nor mentor, nor follower:

I am Formless Bliss-Consciousness – I am Shiva, Shiva am I.

I am without thought, without form;

I am all pervasive, beyond the reach of the senses

I am neither detachment, nor salvation, I am immeasurable:

I am Formless Bliss-Consciousness – I am Shiva, Shiva am I.