Nirvana Shatkam

Overview

Also known as Atma Shatkam, this six-verse hymn is attributed to Adi Shankaracharya, composed — as tradition holds — spontaneously when his guru Govindapada asked the young Shankara who he was. Each verse is a systematic negation ("I am not this, not that") of everything the self is commonly mistaken for: body, mind, emotions, relationships, even the concepts of virtue, sin, and liberation. Every verse closes with the same declaration — chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham — "I am of the nature of consciousness and bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva." It stands as one of the clearest poetic statements of Advaita Vedanta, pointing directly at the nature of the Self beyond all attributes.

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Verse 1

मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कार चित्तानि नाहं न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे । न च व्योम भूमिर्न तेजो न वायुः चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥

Mano buddhi ahankara chittani naham, na cha shrotra jihve na cha ghrana netre. Na cha vyoma bhoomir na tejo na vayuh, chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham.

Meaning: I am not the mind, the intellect, the ego, 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 of the nature of consciousness and bliss — I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Note: The opening verse negates the inner instrument (antahkarana — mind, intellect, ego, memory) and the five sense organs, then the five elements. It sets the pattern for the whole hymn: strip away every layer commonly mistaken for "I."

Verse 2

न च प्राणसंज्ञो न वै पञ्चवायुः न वा सप्तधातुर्न वा पञ्चकोशः । न वाक्पाणिपादौ न चोपस्थपायू चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥

Na cha prana sanjno na vai pancha vayuh, na va sapta dhatur na va pancha koshah. Na vak pani padau na chopastha payu, chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham.

Meaning: I am not what is called the vital breath, nor the five vital airs. I am not the seven bodily elements, nor the five sheaths. I am not the organs of speech, hands, feet, or the organs of procreation and excretion. I am of the nature of consciousness and bliss — I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Note: This verse moves through the subtler physiological layers of yogic and Ayurvedic thought — the pranas, the dhatus (bodily tissues), the pancha koshas (the five sheaths that veil the Self) — and the organs of action. None of these constitute the real "I."

Verse 3

न मे द्वेषरागौ न मे लोभमोहौ मदो नैव मे नैव मात्सर्यभावः । न धर्मो न चार्थो न कामो न मोक्षः चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥

Na me dvesha ragau na me lobha mohau, mado naiva me naiva matsarya bhavah. Na dharmo na chartho na kamo na mokshah, chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham.

Meaning: I have neither hatred nor attachment, neither greed nor delusion. I have neither pride nor envy. I have no duty, no wealth, no desire, and not even liberation. I am of the nature of consciousness and bliss — I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Note: Here the negation turns inward to emotional and psychological states, then strikingly to the four traditional aims of life (dharma, artha, kama, moksha). Even moksha — liberation itself, the goal every seeker strives for — is negated, because the Self was never bound in the first place, and so has nothing to be liberated from.

Verse 4

न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दुःखं न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदा न यज्ञः । अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥

Na punyam na papam na saukhyam na dukham, na mantro na tirtham na veda na yajnah. Aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhokta, chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham.

Meaning: I have neither virtue nor sin, neither pleasure nor pain. I have no need of mantra, sacred place, scripture, or ritual sacrifice. I am neither food, nor the act of eating, nor the eater. I am of the nature of consciousness and bliss — I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Note: This verse negates moral categories and even the formal apparatus of religion — mantra, pilgrimage, the Vedas, yajna — not out of irreverence, but because the Self is prior to and beyond every tool used to reach it. The food/eating/eater triad (a classic Vedantic set) collapses the subject-object relationship itself.

Verse 5

न मृत्युर्न शङ्का न मे जातिभेदः पिता नैव मे नैव माता न जन्म । न बन्धुर्न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्यः चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥

Na mrityur na shanka na me jati bhedah, pita naiva me naiva mata na janma. Na bandhur na mitram gurur naiva shishyah, chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham.

Meaning: I have no death, no fear, and no distinctions of caste or birth. I have neither father nor mother, nor even a birth. I have no relative, no friend; neither teacher nor disciple. I am of the nature of consciousness and bliss — I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Note: The negation reaches the deepest personal identifications — mortality, lineage, family, and even the guru-disciple bond through which this very teaching is usually transmitted. It's the most radical verse: even the relationship that produced the hymn is declared not-Self.

Verse 6

अहं निर्विकल्पो निराकाररूपो विभुत्वाच्च सर्वत्र सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम् । न चासङ्गतं नैव मुक्तिर्न मेयः चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥

Aham nirvikalpo nirakara rupo, vibhutvaccha sarvatra sarvendriyanam. Na chasangatam naiva muktir na meyah, chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham.

Meaning: I am free of all mental constructs, formless by nature, all-pervading, present in and beyond every sense faculty. I am neither attached nor detached, neither bound nor free, nor am I something that can be measured or known as an object. I am of the nature of consciousness and bliss — I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Note: The closing verse moves from negation to a rare positive description — nirvikalpa (free of duality/concepts), formless, all-pervading — before one final negation: the Self cannot even be grasped as an object of knowledge, because it is the very knower. This is the resolution the previous five verses were building toward.

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Structure at a glance: six verses, each systematically negating a category of false identity (body/senses → subtle physiology → emotions/life-aims → moral-ritual categories → relationships/birth → concepts/duality itself) — with the refrain "chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham" repeated at the end of every verse as the constant affirmation beneath all the negations.