Lingashtakam Mantra
ब्रह्ममुरारिसुरार्चितलिङ्गं निर्मलभासितशोभितलिङ्गम् । जन्मजदुःखविनाशकलिङ्गं तत्प्रणमामि सदाशिवलिङ्गम् ॥In Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.
Who Lingashtakam is
The Lingashtakam addresses Sadashiva in the form of the lingam, the aniconic shaft that Shaiva tradition holds as the primary visible mark of the formless Absolute. Unlike anthropomorphic murtis that show Shiva with matted locks, trident or bull, the lingam stands without face or limb, its curved top and squared base marking the union of pure consciousness and manifest energy. Temples from Kedarnath to Rameswaram install it as the garbha-griha’s sole focus; the eight verses of this stotra circle that stone or crystal form alone, naming it the object worshipped by Brahma and Murari, the destroyer of the sorrow born with each birth, and the eternally auspicious lingam. The hymn never shifts its gaze to Nataraja’s dance or Bhairava’s skull; every epithet returns to the silent, upright emblem itself.
The Endless Pillar of Light
The Shiva Purana and the Linga Purana recount that Brahma and Vishnu once disputed which of them was supreme. In the midst of their contention a boundless pillar of fire rose between them, without top or bottom. Vishnu took the form of a boar and dug downward for a thousand years; Brahma became a swan and flew upward the same span. Neither found an end. Returning, they met a sage who was Shiva himself and learned that the pillar was the lingam, the sign of that which precedes and outlasts every creator and preserver. Brahma’s false claim to have reached the summit brought the curse that he would lack temples on earth, while Vishnu’s honest failure won him the right to be honored beside the lingam. The Lingashtakam’s opening verse still names both gods as the first worshippers of that same shaft of light, fixing the hymn inside this primordial episode rather than any later narrative of marriage or battle.
The mantra, in six scripts
The seed mantra, and the form most devotees chant daily. No initiation is required — it is open to anyone, including a parent chanting for a child.
- ब्रह्म
- brahma — Brahma
- मुरारि
- murāri — Murari (Vishnu)
- सुरार्चित
- surārcita — worshipped by the gods
- लिङ्गं
- liṅgaṃ — lingam
- निर्मल
- nirmala — pure
- भासित
- bhāsita — shining
- शोभित
- śobhita — radiant
- लिङ्गम्
- liṅgam — lingam
- जन्मज
- janmaja — born of birth
- दुःख
- duḥkha — sorrow
- विनाशक
- vināśaka — destroyer
- लिङ्गं
- liṅgaṃ — lingam
- तत्
- tat — that
- प्रणमामि
- praṇamāmi — I bow
- सदाशिव
- sadāśiva — Sadashiva
- लिङ्गम्
- liṅgam — lingam
The syllable people get wrong
In liṅgaṃ the velar nasal ṅ before g is often flattened to an ordinary English “ng” as in “long,” losing the distinct ṅ contact at the soft palate; the correct touch keeps the tongue raised and the sound humming through the nose before the g is released.
When Lingashtakam is chanted
Weekday. Monday
Festival. Maha Shivaratri, when the lingam is bathed through the four night watches
Questions
Have your chart read before you decide
Chanting is yours to do, and free. But which deity your situation calls for — and whether a mantra alone is the right response — depends on your chart. Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.
- Over 30 years in the Guru–Sishya Parampara, from the age of five
- He reads every chart himself — 60 minutes, one to one, never delegated
- Charts are read only between sunrise and sunset, following tradition
Related
Chanting is yours to do. Some things are performed for you.
Where a matter carries real weight — an examination that decides a course, a performance, a child whose studies have stalled — devotees sponsor the homa alongside their own practice. Performed for you and any family members you name, at our Yagna Ashram, in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your chart, and telecast live so you can watch it done for you.