This verse from the Svacchanda Tantra appears in Kṣemarāja’s commentary on the last verse (109) of chapter nine. Similar in meaning is this verse #108 from The Magical Jewel of Devotion in Kashmir Shaivism – Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa’s Stava Cintāmaṇī (scroll down).
Listen to the audio (Kashmiri) by Swami Lakshmanjoo explaining the verse below and/or read the English translation below…
iti | ca evārthe, bhāvitātmaiva prayuñjītetyarthaḥ | pāṭalikī
saṅgatiradūra eva —-
“kālāgnirnarakāścaiva pātālā hāṭakeśvaraḥ” (9-109)
ityādinā paṭalāntaṃ kaṭākṣayatā granthena kṛteti śivam ||
“vyādhīnāmagadaṃ divyamādhīnāṃ mūlakartanam |
upadravāṇāṃ dalanaṃ mahādevamupāsmahe ||”
iti śrīsvacchandatantre
śrīmahāmāheśvarācāryavaryaśrīkṣemarājaviracitoddyotākhyavyākhyopete navamaḥ paṭalaḥ || 9 ||
It is interesting that Swamiji appears to have changed this verse to read as follows:
ādhīnāmagadaṁ divyaṁ vyādhīnāṁ mūlakṛntanam /
upadhravānāṁ dalanaṁ mahādevamupāsmahe // 21 //
We worship that Lord Mahādeva, the only Supreme Divinity who is divine medicine for all mental afflictions, who is the complete destroyer of all diseases, both mental and physical, and who dispels all misfortunes.
vyādhīnāṁ agadaṁ divyaṁ ādhīnām mūlakṛintanam /
upadhravānāṁ dalanaṁ mahādevamupāsmahe //
Upāsmahe, we are trying to get close to Mahādeva, or may we try to get close to Mahadeva, or, it is our desire that we should get close to Mahādeva – this is the meaning of upāsmahe. How is he? The moment you reach there, vyādhīnāṁ agadaṁ divyaṁ, complete healing of all diseases happens, i.e., all diseases are over (aroga). Just when you have the desire of getting close to Mahādeva, all diseases have their . . .
Devotee: Chutti (farewell)
Swamiji: . . . chutti. You bid farewell (to diseases).
Which diseases?
Physical ailments.
Devotee: Mental?
Swamiji: Physical, Physical. Physical means those related to the body [i.e., ādhibautika]. (1.00) Flank pain
Devotee: Fever
Swamiji: Tummy aches. Look at her, she has got.
Devotee: Arthritis (Laughter)
Swamiji: What have you got?
Devotee: Arthritis.
Swamiji: But you went to Shankaracharya1 the other day. How fast you went! Like a racing horse!
Devotees: Laughter
Swamiji: vyādhīnāṁ agadaṁ divyaṁ, so this is the meaning of coming close to Mahadeva. This is the first sign. All diseases come to an end. All diseases are cured. ādhīnām mūlakṛintanam. ādhīnām means the mental diseases that are there,
Devotee: Mental
Swamiji: Because of which everyone says, Oh he has given me so much tension. He has given me so much, internal, internal . . .
Devotee: Internal (tension)
Swamiji: Like an arrow that penetrates your heart. Tears your hearts to bits. Isn’t it?
Devotee: Yes sir.
Swamiji: Sometimes someone tells you something, it is like a knife that moves and cuts you inside. These are ādhī, these are mental ailments [ādhyātmika].
To them mūla kṛntanam, chops off from their root (mūla), all those diseases; all these diseases which are mental diseases, he . . .
Devotee: Finishes them, cuts with a sickle
Swamiji: . . . cuts with a sickle.
Who cuts with a sickle?
Devotee: Mahādeva.
Devotee: Just the desire!
Swamiji: Just the desire!
Devotee: Inaudible
Devotee: Please keep quiet! (Listen to Gurudev)
Swamiji: Just the desire that, “We should go close to Mahadeva . . . I should reach close to Mahadeva!” (2.40)
Let him not reach!
Just keep this thought inside you that, “We should get close to Mahadeva.” This is the only thing that you have to do.
Now he does not only do this. Upadravānāṁ dalanaṁ, upadravā means . . . yesterday the upadravā that came [i.e., ādhidaivika].
Devotee: The storm and rains.
Swamiji: I thought, Hari Krishan Raina. All must be
Devotee: God forbid.
Swamiji: No…. all must have crossed Karan Nagar.
“Shiv Shiv Shambhu, Shiv Shiv Shambhu . . .”
Devotee: (Laughter . . . )
Swamiji: I thought all, those from Pahalgam, they would also have crossed, graveyard, everything, the situation became so bad. But this also he (controls) upadravānāṁ dalanaṁ, all upadrava he cuts, he finishes these off. He ends these.
Now read this shloka in the same tune 10 times. Then we shall start other preparation.
[End of Kashmiri lecture on Kṣemarāja’s commentary
on the last verse (109) of chapter nine of the Svacchanda Tantra]
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1 Temple atop a hill in Srinagar, Kashmir
Similar in meaning is this verse #108 from The Magical Jewel of Devotion in Kashmir Shaivism – Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa’s Stava Cintāmaṇī:
Audio 6 (13:07)
त्रिलोक्यामिह कस्त्रातस्त्रिताप्या नोपतापितः ।
तस्मै नमोऽस्तु ते यस्त्वं तन्निर्वाणामृतह्रदः ॥१०८॥
trilokyāmiha kastrātastritāpyā nopatāpitaḥ /
tasmai namo’stu te yastvaṁ tannirvāṇāmṛtahradaḥ //108//
Trailokyām, in this cycle of the three worlds, tritāpyā nopatāpitaḥ, in this cycle of the three worlds, who is that person who is not put to great trouble by the threefold pains?
The three-fold pains you know? [They are], ādhyātmika, ādhidaivika, and ādhibhautika.204 And ādhyātmika pain is of your mind, e.g., grief, sorrow, . . .
JOACHIM: Depressions and things.
SWAMIJI: . . . attachment, love, lust. This is also another pain. And ādhidaivika is [the pain that comes from] these thunders and earthquakes, etc. And ādhibhautika is [having] a headache, a toothache, a stomachache–everything. All of these three-fold pains are always existing in a being who is created in this universe.205
Tritāpya nopatāpitaḥ, who is that person who is not adjusted in these, who has not come in the grip of these threefold pains? And who is the protector who would relieve us from these threefold pains? Trilokyāmiha kastrāta, who is the protector from this, tritāpyā nopatāpitaḥ, who has not come in the grip of these threefold pains? Tasmai namo’stu te yastvaṁ tat nirvāṇāmṛta hradaḥ, I believe You are the only person, You are the only Being, who could rid us from this cycle of the three pains in this world and keep us, make us, rest in nirvāṇa amṛta hradaḥ (amṛta hradaḥ means, the lake of the nectar of God consciousness). And that nectar of God consciousness is just final liberation. You are the only Being to do that.206
[ END of the excerpt from the Stava Cintamani ]
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204 Ādhyātmik, concerning self or individual personality. Ādhi-daivika, relating to or proceeding from gods or from spirits; proceeding from the influence of the atmosphere or planets, proceeding from divine or supernatural agencies. Ādhibhautika, belonging or relating to created beings; elementary, derived or produced from the primitive elements, material.
205 In his commentary, Kṣemarāja references a verse from Abhinavagupta’s commentary of verse 40, chapter 18, of the Bhagavad Gītā: “Just from Brahmā to a mosquito, there is no one who is peaceful, and that uneasiness is found in everybody in this world.” Stava Cintāmaṇi (1990).
206 “I bow to You, Lord Śiva, as You are the only one who can take people out of these threefold tortures.” Ibid.
Source: The Magical Jewel of Devotion in Kashmir Shaivism – Stava Cintamani revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo
Copyright © John Hughes
