The Nirvana Shatakam (“six verses on liberation”), also called the Atmashatakam (“six verses on the Self”), is one of the best-loved short texts of Advaita Vedanta. In six verses it strips away, one by one, everything a person normally takes to be “I”: the mind and senses, the breath and the body’s tissues, feelings, duties, relationships, even the wish for liberation. What remains, in each verse’s refrain, is chidananda-rupah shivo ‘ham shivo ‘ham: “I am of the nature of awareness and bliss, I am Shiva.”
Tradition attributes the hymn to Adi Shankara, the teacher whom tradition places in the eighth century. A well-known story, told in later accounts of his life, says that the boy Shankara answered the question “Who are you?” from his future teacher Govindapada beside the Narmada with these verses. The story is not in the hymn itself, so it is safest to call the hymn a traditional text of the Shankara school. For hymns in a devotional rather than a philosophical voice, see the Shivashtakam and the Rudrashtakam.
On this page you will find all six verses in Devanagari with transliteration and a plain meaning, the places where the printed editions and common recitation differ (there are several, and they are worth knowing), and a note on how the text was checked.
The text, transliteration and meaning
The refrain is written out in full in every verse so that each can be read alone.
Verse 1
मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कारचित्तानि नाहं ।
न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे ।
न च व्योमभूमिर्न तेजो न वायुः ।
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम् ॥
Manobuddhyahankarachittani naham
Na cha shrotrajihve na cha ghrananetre
Na cha vyomabhumirna tejo na vayuh
Chidanandarupah shivo'ham shivo'ham
MeaningI am not the mind, the intellect, the sense of 'I' or the memory. I am not the ears, the tongue, the nose or the eyes. I am not space, earth, fire or air. I am pure awareness and bliss in form: I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Verse 2
न च प्राणसंज्ञो न वै पञ्चवायुर् ।
न वा सप्तधातुर्न वा पञ्चकोशः ।
न वाक्पाणिपादं न चोपस्थपायू ।
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम् ॥
Na cha pranasanjno na vai panchavayur
Na va saptadhaturna va panchakoshah
Na vakpanipadam na chopasthapayu
Chidanandarupah shivo'ham shivo'ham
MeaningI am not what is called the life-breath, nor the five winds of the body, nor the seven tissues, nor the five sheaths. I am not the voice, the hands, the feet, or the organs of generation and excretion. I am pure awareness and bliss: I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Verse 3
न मे द्वेषरागौ न मे लोभमोहौ ।
मदो नैव मे नैव मात्सर्यभावः ।
न धर्मो न चार्थो न कामो न मोक्षः ।
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम् ॥
Na me dvesharagau na me lobhamohau
Mado naiva me naiva matsaryabhavah
Na dharmo na chartho na kamo na mokshah
Chidanandarupah shivo'ham shivo'ham
MeaningI have no hatred or attachment, no greed or confusion. Pride is not mine, and neither is envy. I am not the aim of duty, wealth, desire or even liberation. I am pure awareness and bliss: I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Verse 4
न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दुःखं ।
न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदा न यज्ञाः ।
अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता ।
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम् ॥
Na punyam na papam na saukhyam na duhkham
Na mantro na tirtham na veda na yajnah
Aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhokta
Chidanandarupah shivo'ham shivo'ham
MeaningI am not merit or sin, pleasure or pain. I am not a mantra, a pilgrimage place, the Vedas or a sacrifice. I am not the meal, the thing eaten or the one who eats. I am pure awareness and bliss: I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Verse 5
न मृत्युर्न शङ्का न मे जातिभेदः ।
पिता नैव मे नैव माता च जन्म ।
न बन्धुर्न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्यः ।
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम् ॥
Na mrityurna shanka na me jatibhedah
Pita naiva me naiva mata cha janma
Na bandhurna mitram gururnaiva shishyah
Chidanandarupah shivo'ham shivo'ham
MeaningFor me there is no death and no fear, and no division by birth. I have no father or mother, and no birth. I have no relation, no friend, no teacher and no pupil. I am pure awareness and bliss: I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Verse 6
अहं निर्विकल्पो निराकाररूपो ।
विभुत्वाच्च सर्वत्र सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम् ।
न चासङ्गतं नैव मुक्तिर्न मेयः ।
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम् ॥
Aham nirvikalpo nirakararupo
Vibhutvachcha sarvatra sarvendriyanam
Na chasangatam naiva muktirna meyah
Chidanandarupah shivo'ham shivo'ham
MeaningI am free of all distinctions of thought and have no fixed form. I pervade everything and every sense, and I am attached to nothing. For me there is neither liberation nor anything to be known. I am pure awareness and bliss: I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Text: Brihat Stotra Ratnakara (Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay, 1912; the Bhargava Pustakalaya edition, Varanasi; and the 1953 edition, part 1, page 255), with the other readings taken from the Atmashatka in the Lakshmi Venkateshwar Press edition of 1892. Transliteration is simplified; meanings are our own.
Where the editions and common recitation differ
Several differences are small, and one or two change the sense. The printed reading is given above. The other readings are set out here so that you can follow whichever version your family uses. Both are old and both are in use.
Verse 2, first two lines. The printed editions read na ca prana-samjno na vai panca-vayur na va sapta-dhatur na va panca-kosah. Most singers split it as na vai panca-vayuh / na va sapta-dhatuh. The words are the same and only the joining differs. The 1892 Lakshmi Venkateshwar Press print also contains the hymn in its section of Vedanta stotras, there with a different second verse (aham prana-varmo na pancanila me). That is a separate recension and is not used here.
Verse 4, second line. The prints read na tirtham na veda na yajnah (“not a place of pilgrimage, not the Vedas, not sacrifices”). Many singers say na tirtho na veda na yajnah, with a singular yajnah. The sense is the same.
Verse 5, first two lines. The four prints we read give na mrityur na shanka na me jati-bhedah (“no death, no fear, no division of birth”) and mata ca janma (“mother and birth”). Common recitation, and the 1892 print, give na me mrityu-shanka na me jati-bhedah (“no fear of death for me, no division of birth”) and mata na janma (“no mother, no birth”). Both readings say that the Self is untouched by birth, death and caste.
Verse 6, first two lines of the second half. The prints read vibhutvac ca sarvatra sarvendriyanam (“because of being all-pervading, in all the senses”) and na casangatam naiva muktir na meyah (“unattached, neither liberation nor an object of knowledge”). The 1892 print and common recitation read vibhur vyapya sarvatra sarvendriyani (“all-pervading, I pervade all the senses”) and sada me samatvam na muktir na bandhah (“always the same, neither liberation nor bondage”). This is the largest difference, and the second reading is the one most often sung.
What each verse takes away
The method is the classical one of “not this, not this” (neti neti). Each verse names a group of things and denies that the Self is any of them.
- Verse 1 denies the four parts of the inner instrument (mind, intellect, ego, memory), the five senses and the five elements.
- Verse 2 denies the life-breath, the five winds of the body, the seven bodily tissues, the five sheaths of the Taittiriya Upanishad (from the food sheath to the bliss sheath) and the five organs of action.
- Verse 3 denies the emotions (hatred, attachment, greed, confusion, pride, envy) and the four traditional aims of life: duty, wealth, desire and liberation.
- Verse 4 denies merit and sin, pleasure and pain, rituals and pilgrimage, and the division into eater, food and eating.
- Verse 5 denies fear of death, caste, family, friendship and the relation of teacher and pupil.
- Verse 6 says that the Self has no shape and no attachment and, in the printed reading, that it is not even a thing to be known.
The refrain then answers the question the verses raise: if I am none of these, what am I? The answer given is awareness and bliss, named Shiva. In the Advaita reading this “Shiva” is not a figure with a form but the one reality; devotional readers hear it as Shiva the god. Both ways of hearing it have been common. The separation of the Self from the body is also the subject of the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 2.
How the Nirvana Shatakam is used
There is no ritual attached to the hymn, and the printed editions give no benefit verse, so no result is promised here. People read it as a meditation: one verse at a time, pausing after each refrain. Teachers of Vedanta often use it at the start of a class on self-enquiry. It is also sung in Shiva temples, especially on Maha Shivaratri and on Mondays (see the Somvar vrat guide), though its message is a reflection and not a request.
It can be read silently or aloud. If you sing it, keep the refrain steady and equal in every verse, and let the first three lines of each verse move a little faster.
Pronunciation notes
The refrain is said chi-dā-nan-da-rū-paḥ shi-vo-‘ham shi-vo-‘ham. The apostrophe after shivo stands for the avagraha, a missing short a: shivah aham becomes shivo ‘ham, and it is not said as a separate syllable. In jihve the j is as in “jam” and hv is a soft h followed by v. The word mātsarya in verse 3 has a clear ts sound, and shaṅkā has the ng of “sing”.
Say the nasal ṃ at the end of words (nāhaṃ, sukhaṃ) as a light m, and keep the long vowels long.
How the text on this page is sourced
Sanskrit Wikisource carries a typed Nirvana Shatakam that mixes the printed and the commonly sung readings and offers some lines in brackets as alternatives, so it was not used as the base. The Devanagari follows the Brihat Stotra Ratnakara, a large collection of hymns: the copy printed by Nirnaya Sagar Press in 1912, the Bhargava Pustakalaya edition and the 1953 edition, whose proofread transcription on Wikisource we also compared. All of them print the same words, apart from sandhi and spacing. The 1953 print was read from the page image, and the 1892 Lakshmi Venkateshwar Press print was read from its page image to record the other readings above.
Related mantras and pages
- Shivashtakam: a devotional eight-verse hymn to Shiva
- Rudrashtakam: an eight-verse hymn to Rudra
- Om Namah Shivaya: the five-syllable mantra of Shiva
- Shiva Panchakshara Stotram: five verses on the five syllables
- Sahana Vavatu Mantra: a peace invocation from the Taittiriya Upanishad
- Bhagavad Gita: every verse with transliteration and meaning
- Maha Shivaratri: the great night of Shiva, with dates for your city
- All mantras, stotras, chalisas and aartis
Frequently asked questions
↳ What is the Nirvana Shatakam?
It is a Sanskrit hymn of six verses in which the speaker denies, one group at a time, everything that is usually taken as the self, and ends each verse with 'I am awareness and bliss, I am Shiva'. It is also called the Atmashatakam.
↳ Who wrote the Nirvana Shatakam?
Tradition attributes it to Adi Shankara, placed in the eighth century. The story of the boy Shankara answering Govindapada with these verses comes from later accounts of his life, so this page calls the attribution traditional.
↳ What does 'chidananda rupah shivoham' mean?
It means 'I am of the form of consciousness and bliss, I am Shiva'. In the Advaita reading 'Shiva' names the one reality that is awareness itself, and not a separate god standing apart from the speaker.
↳ Why do recorded versions differ from this text?
Most singers use a form that mixes readings from two recensions, for example 'na me mrityushanka' in verse 5 and 'sada me samatvam na muktir na bandhah' in verse 6. This page follows the old printed editions and gives the other readings in a section above.
↳ Is it a prayer or a meditation?
It is closer to a meditation. It makes no request and states no reward. Many people read it slowly, one verse at a time, and some read it as a devotional hymn to Shiva.