1st and 2nd Verses of Shri Rudrashtakam

Verse 1

Namaa miisha mishaana-nirvaana rupam |

Vibhum vyaapakam brahma-veda-svaroopam ||
Nijam nirgunam nirvikalpam niriham |

Chidaakaasha maakaasha-vaasam bhaje ham ||1||

Lord Shiva, the Supreme Being

I respectfully salute the svarupa or form of liberation, the all pervasive Brahma who is the impersonal Ultimate Being and a living presence of the Vedas. Shiva is master of the northeast and the Lord of everyone. I worship the one who radiant in his eternal form is stripped off worldly illusion and deceptive senses,devoid of discrimination and desires, the conscious digambar ( an epithet of Shiva) who is wearing the sky itself as a garment (and covering the sky as well).

Verse 2

Niraakaara monkaara-moolam turiiyam |
Giraa gnaana gotiita miisham giriisham ||
Karaalam mahaa-kaala-kaalam krpaalam |
gunaagaara samsara paaram nato ham ||2||

Lord Shiva as Mahakaal or the Destroyer

I respectfully salute the formless source of the sound Om, the turiya (detached from the three constituents of sattva or goddness, rajas or passion and tamas or darkness) who is beyond speech, knowledge and the senses; the ruler of Kailash who is the fearsome Mahakaal (Shiva in his character as the destroyer when he is represented as black and as a personification of time), the merciful one who is the abode of virtues and is Parmeshwar or the Supreme Lord, beyond reach of the mundane world.