🕉️ Essence of Advaita Vedanta

🌌Nirvana Shatkam – The Song of Pure Consciousness

✨ A timeless declaration of the Self beyond body, mind, ego, and identity.


✨This sacred composition dissolves illusion and reveals the truth: Chidananda Rupah Shivoham.
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Cosmic Shiva representing Nirvana Shatkam consciousness

✨A cosmic reminder that you are not the mind — you are awareness itself.

📖 Overview of Nirvana Shatkam

Nirvana Shatkam is a non-dual Advaita Vedanta hymn composed by Adi Shankaracharya that declares the true Self as pure consciousness beyond body, mind, and ego. Through systematic negation, it reveals the timeless truth: “I am not this — I am Shiva, pure awareness.”

🧠 Common Misunderstanding

✅ Nirvana Shatkam is often mistaken as a devotional prayer. In truth, it is a direct experiential statement of non-duality, not worship..

Adi Shankaracharya meeting Govinda Bhagavatpada

📜 Origin of Nirvana Shatkam

When Adi Shankaracharya, at just eight years old, was asked his name by Govinda Bhagavatpada, he replied not with an identity — but with truth.
That response became Nirvana Shatkam.

  • ❌You are not the body.
  • ❌You are not the mind.
  • ✅You are awareness itself.

📜 Nirvana Shatkam – Text & Meaning

Verse 1
English Script
Mano buddhy-ahankāra chittāni nāham
Na cha śrotra jihve na cha ghrāṇa netre
Na cha vyoma bhūmir na tejo na vāyuḥ
Chidānanda rūpaḥ śivo’ham śivo’ham
Meaning
I am not the mind,
not the intellect,
not the ego,
not the memory.
I am not the ears, tongue, nose, or eyes.
I am not space, earth, fire, or air.
👉 I am pure consciousness and bliss.
I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Verse 2
English Script
Na cha prāṇa saṁjño na vai pañcha vāyuḥ
Na vā sapta dhātur na vā pañcha kośaḥ
Na vāk pāṇi pādam na chopastha pāyuḥ
Chidānanda rūpaḥ śivo’ham śivo’ham
Meaning
I am not the life force (prāṇa),
nor the five vital airs.
I am not the seven bodily elements,
nor the five layers of existence.
I am not speech, hands, feet,
nor organs of action or elimination.
👉 I am pure awareness and bliss.
I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Verse 3
English Script
Na me dveṣa rāgau na me lobha mohau
Mado naiva me naiva mātsarya bhāvaḥ
Na dharmo na chārtho na kāmo na mokṣaḥ
Chidānanda rūpaḥ śivo’ham śivo’ham
Meaning
I have no hatred or attachment,
no greed or delusion.
I have no pride or jealousy.
I am beyond duty (dharma), wealth (artha),
desire (kāma), and even liberation (moksha).
👉 I am pure consciousness and bliss.
I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Verse 4
English Script
Na puṇyaṁ na pāpaṁ na saukhyaṁ na duḥkhaṁ
Na mantro na tīrthaṁ na vedā na yajñaḥ
Ahaṁ bhojanaṁ naiva bhojyaṁ na bhoktā
Chidānanda rūpaḥ śivo’ham śivo’ham
Meaning
I am not virtue or sin,
not happiness or sorrow.
I am not mantra, pilgrimage, scripture, or ritual.
I am not the food,
not the eater,
not the act of eating.
👉 I am pure awareness and bliss.
I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Verse 5
English Script
Na me mṛtyu śaṅkā na me jāti bhedaḥ
Pitā naiva me naiva mātā na janma
Na bandhur na mitraṁ gurur naiva śiṣyaḥ
Chidānanda rūpaḥ śivo’ham śivo’ham
Meaning
I have no fear of death,
no caste or division.
I have no father, mother, or birth.
I have no relatives or friends,
no teacher or student.
👉 I am pure consciousness and bliss.
I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Verse 6
English Script
Ahaṁ nirvikalpo nirākāra rūpo
Vibhur vyāpya sarvatra sarvendriyāṇām
Sadā me samaṁ nāsti mukti na bandhaḥ
Chidānanda rūpaḥ śivo’ham śivo’ham
Meaning
I am formless and beyond all thoughts.
I am all-pervading, present everywhere,
beyond the senses.
I have no bondage and no liberation,
always the same, eternal.
👉 I am pure consciousness and bliss.
I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

🎧 Listen to Nirvana Shatkam

🌍 Why Nirvana Shatkam Matters Today

In an age of anxiety and identity confusion, Nirvana Shatkam offers mental clarity, fearlessness, emotional resilience, and inner freedom.

🌿 How to Use Nirvana Shatkam Daily

Tonight, sit for 15 minutes.

  • ✨ Chant mentally during meditation
  • ✨ Listen on YouTube Music in loop
  • ✨ Use during moments of anxiety or identity confusion
  • ✨ Reflect on one verse daily

📚 Continue the Advaita Journey

Explore related blogs on self-inquiry, Advaita philosophy, meditation, and teachings of great sages.

❓FAQs – Nirvana Shatkam

Nirvana Shatkam is a short Advaita Vedanta hymn that explains self-realization by denying identification with the body, senses, mind, and ego, and affirming pure consciousness as one’s true nature.

Nirvana Shatkam was composed by Adi Shankaracharya when he was a child, as an expression of Advaita realization rather than devotional worship.

“Mano Buddhyahankara” means the mind, intellect, and ego — which Nirvana Shatkam declares are not the true Self.

Nirvana Shatkam is not a prayer. It is a philosophical declaration of non-duality expressing direct realization of the Self.

It belongs to experiential truth, not belief systems.

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