Śarabha murti is one of the sixty-four forms of Lord Śiva, which is a combination of animals, bird, and the human body, Ākāśa Bhairava Kalpa is a text on the methods of worship of this form. The following is the meditative verse of the Lord from this manuscript.
candrārkāgni tri dṛṣṭiḥ kuliśa vara nakha cañcalātyugra jihvaḥ
kāḷī durgā ca pakṣau hṛdaya jaṭharagau bhairavo vāḍavāgniḥ
ūrusthau vyādhi mṛtyu śarabhaḥ vara khagaḥ caṇḍavātāti vegaḥ
saṃhartā sarvaśatrūn sa jayati śarabha saḷuvaḥ pakṣirājaḥ
The mantra when decoded from this text, has forty-two syllables as below -
oṃ kheṃ khāṃ khaṃ phaṭ prāṇa grahāsi prāṇa grahāsi huṃ phaṭ
sarva-śatru-saṃhāraṇāya śarabha sāluvāya pakṣirājaya huṃ svāhā
candrārkāgni-tri-dṛṣṭiḥ = His three eyes are the Moon, Sun and fire. Meditate on the Brahman while chanting praṇava - Oṃ, the next three syllables have consonant 'kha', representing Sadāśiva who bestows enlightenment and thus pointing to Śrī Gurunatha, they have vowels, 'ā' and a meaning moonlight. Shine (pride) and residence respectively. These are the three eyes - moon, sun and fire (which is a representation of the earth, which has fire in the middle). So, this form is very big-huge, think that the eye itself is as big as the Sun, the total form will be so big.
kuliśa vara nakha = His nails are sharp like the finest (best) diamond (or thunderbolt).
cañcalātyugra jihvaḥ = His fierce tongue is moving to and fro, these can be envisaged as ‘phaṭ’ - since this bīja denotes destruction, the same is done by the said body parts.
kāḷī durgā ca pakṣau = Devi Kālika and durgā (śulini) are his two wings - these can be envisaged as ‘huṁ’ and ‘phaṭ’- Durga has seed syllable (bīja)- ‘huṁ’ and Kālika as destruction is seen in bīja ‘phaṭ’;
hṛdaya jaṭharagau bhairavo vāḍavāgniḥ = In His heart resides bhairava- the terrific form and in the abdomen resides the fire in the form of a Mare (male horse) inside ocean- which will come out when this world is to be destroyed. Looking at these in a world sense these can be said as volcanoes-which is destruction on land and lava beneath the sea which will erupt during mass destruction, these can be envisaged as ‘huṃ’ as armour seed syllable (kavaca bīja) as encompassing the whole universe and ‘phaṭ’- as bīja denoting destruction.
ūrusthau vyādhi mṛtyu śarabhaḥ = His thighs are the disease and death. This is readily seen in the mantras as prāṇagrahāsi prāṇagrahāsi - which means to grab the life force- as done by both disease and death;
vara khagaḥ = most excellent of birds;
caṇḍavātāti vegaḥ = faster than the stormy cyclone winds;
saḷuvaḥ = black eagle (hawk);
pakṣirājaḥ = king of birds, combined meaning is seen as ‘pakṣirājaya;
saṃhartā sarvaśatrūn = destroys all enemies, this is seen as sarvaśatrusaṃhāraṇāya;
sa jayati śarabha = let śarabha be victorious, this is seen in śarabha and svāhā (which can be broken as su+āhā = meaning wow - done wonderfully - is a praise.
Source: "Meditative Texts - Revised Thoughts on the Way" by Yogamba Sameta Atmanandanatha (Ramesh Kutticad)
Yogamba Sahita Atmanandantha (Ramesh Kutticad) is a Śrī Vidyā Guru from Chennai. He is associated with Guruji since 1996. Smt. and Sri Ramesh have painstakingly written the following scholarly, research. We're grateful to him for allowing us to make these articles available for the public.
