Shiva Mahimna Stotra

Shloka 41

Meaning:  O Maheshwara (the Supreme Lord)! I don’t know your essential form. O Mahadeva (the God of gods)!  Whatever is your form, I salute you again and again.

Reflections:  As we evolve spiritually, our idea of God also evolves.  As Swami Vivekananda expressed through “Namo namo  Prabhu vakya-manatita…”, meaning, “I salute to God who is beyond the comprehension of our speech and mind, but, on the other hand, who is the support of our speech and mind.” In the final stage, one realizes that God has become everything. There is nothing in the universe that is not God. However, out of ignorance, we see things and people having different names, forms, characteristics, and their own separate existence.

Only by God’s grace, we can realize God’s true form. People who have realized God become quiet. They know that whatever they say will not describe God completely.

It seems that keeping this in mind, Pushpadanta says ‘I don’t know your essential form. But whatever is your form, I salute you again and again.’

We have to begin with whatever form of God we have in our mind. Then, as we sincerely do our spiritual practices described by the spiritual teachers and the scriptures, we get a better and better understanding of God, and ultimately, by the grace of God, we get the ultimate realization of God.