1

ÉrÌ Rudram1

Introduction by
Swami Dayananda Saraswati2

Among the various Vedic hymns, recited daily by a vaidika,

the ÊaÖa RudrÌya occupies the prime place. Popularly known as ÉrÌ
Rudram, this hymn of praise of, and prayer to the Lord is a part of the
KÎÛÙa Yajur Veda. Perhaps this hymn is the source of inspiration for
the nËmËvalis consisting of one thousand and eight names revealing
and praising the Lord invoked in a certain form. In the epic
MahËbhËrata, BhÌÛma gives the thousand names of Lord ViÛÙu,
known as ViÛÙu SahasranËma. There are similar nËmËvalis
mentioned in the various PurËÙas. In both form and content, all of
them are not different from the Rudram. Even in the Vedas, one does
not see a section like this hymn consisting of so many names of the
Lord along with the word, namaÒ, salutation. The famous five syllabic
mantra, NamaÒ ÉivËya, is from this great hymn.

NËma-japa is perhaps one invariable element in the religious

life of a vaidika. One can see even today, religious people from

1
Published in the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam 13th Anniversary Souvenir, 1999
2
Excerpt from the Introduction to a new book, Talks on ÉrÌ Rudram, by Swami
Dayananda Saraswati, transcribed and edited by Swamini Pramananda
Saraswati. An audio cassette of the ÊaÖa RudrÌya chanted by the students of
the Sanskrit College, Madras, accompanies the book. Swamini Pramananda
(formerly Bri. Sunita) completed the resident Vedanta course conducted by
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different parts of India doing mental or oral japa daily. The kÌrtan
groups singing Hare RËma Hare KÎÛÙa are in fact doing japa. This
mode of repeating the different names of the Lord has even crossed
geographical and cultural borders. A devout Muslim repeats the
ninety-nine names of Allah. This repetition is japa. A faithful
Christian tells the rosary beads repeating a sentence seeking mercy
from the Lord. This, too, is japa. I feel this mode of prayer comes
from the ÊaÖa RudrÌya.

This hymn is also called Namaka because it has the word

namaÒ added to a word or words in the dative case, depicting the
Lord. The verses of the ViÛÙu SahasranËma have words only in the
nominative, and therefore, the word namaÒ has no place. But in a
ritual of offering flowers unto the altar of ViÛÙu, namaÒ is added to
every name converted to the dative, which gives the sense, ‘unto’.

There are three types of prayer based upon the predominant

means of accomplishing the act of prayer: kËyika, vËcika, and
mËnasa.

KËyika - A Vedic fire ritual is kËyika, because one’s physical

limbs and materials are involved in this ritualistic prayer. This Vedic
ritual is substituted by the more popular form of worship of the Lord
at an altar, as is done in a temple. This form of worship either at home

Pujya Swami Dayanandaji in Piercy, California, and is currently a resident

teacher at the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Coimbatore, India.
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or in a public place of worship is also kËyika. Even though this form

of prayer is called kËyika,3 it implies the use of speech and the mind.

VËcika - This form of prayer is oral, and is popular in all

religious traditions. In this form, the organ of speech, vËk, as well as
the mind are involved. Any form of recitation, including a choir in a
church comes under this category.

MËnasa - This is an act of prayer which is done purely by the

mind, manaÒ. Therefore it is called mËnasa, meaning mental. This is
also called dhyËna, meditation. When the physical act of worship,
kËyika, is mentally done, it is meditation. Only the mind is involved
here. The ÊaÖa RudrÌya is used in all three forms of prayer. The whole
hymn is used in a kËyika ritual, implying either an altar of Éiva or of
fire. It is also used for oral japa, which is vËcika. Either a part or the
whole of the hymn is repeated mentally, which is mËnasa.

Besides it being a hymn of prayer, the ÊaÖa RudrÌya is like an

UpaniÛad revealing the truth of the jÌva, the individual, jagat, the
world and ½Úvara, the Lord. It also provides the means for gaining the
eligibility for the knowledge unfolded by the UpaniÛad. With the help
of the different names of the Lord, one can understand the Lord, not
only as an altar of prayer, but also as the one who is not separate from
the devotee. This is the vision of the UpaniÛad. Therefore it is rightly
called RudropaniÛad. Thus, the implied meaning of the words of the

3
KËya refers to the physical body.
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Lord serves as UpaniÛad, and the simple meaning of the words in the
hymn becomes a means to gain the eligibility for knowledge. It is said
that there is nothing as purifying as the ÊaÖa RudrÌya. Every human
being is subject to puÙya and pËpa. The difficulties people go through
in their lives are often the pËpas actualised. They can pose as
obstructions for a person who is in the pursuit of spiritual knowledge.

To gain the grace of ½Úvara and to remove the obstacles in

one’s spiritual life, the ÊaÖa RudrÌya is efficacious. Even for citta-
naiÚcalya, the freedom from emotional upheavals in one’s life, the
ÊaÖa RudrÌya is highly recommended by people who know the Vedic
tradition very well. In one of the UpaniÛads4 it is said, “The one who
repeats the the ÊaÖa RudrÌya is freed from the sin incurred by hurting a
brËhmaÙa, robbing somebody’s wealth . . .”

This Vedic japa is reverentially talked about even in the

PurËÙas. In the KÍrma PurËÙa, there is a story of a king called
Vasumanas. The king did gËyatrÌ upËsanË for many years. As a
result of his prayer, the Lord appeared to him in the same form as the
one the king prayed to. Being requested by the king for the means for
mokÛa from saÑsËra, a life of becoming, the Lord told him, “Listen to
these secret names of mine given to you together, even though they
are mentioned individually in the different parts of the Vedas. Add the
word, namaÒ, to each word and do namaskËra, living a life of

4
KaivalyopaniÛad mantra 24 - yaÒ ÛaÖa-rudrÌyam adhÌte saÒ ...
brahmahatyËyËÒ pÍto bhavati suvarÙasteyËt pÍto bhavati...
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dharma. You will free yourself from saÑsËra.” What is the logic
here? I think this needs to be discussed.

There is a group of devotees who believe that the name, the

nËma of the Lord is greater than the person, the nËmÌ. The name
RËma is greater than Lord RËma. There is a certain truth in this
attitude. There is no name without a nËmÌ The name Gandhi stands for
the person, the nËmÌ who gave a certain content to the name. The
name VivekËnanda has gained a sacred status only because of the
nËmÌ, the person. It is clear, therefore, that nËma has no meaning
without the nËmÌ. Then what is the basis for this concept that the name
is greater than the nËmÌ? It is true that the name gains a content and
status because of the nËmÌ. But is it not true that the nËmÌ having
departed with all the biographical non-details, has left behind the
nËma, the name, whose content survives the levelling hands of time?

That RËma was in AyodhyË, in KiÛkindhË, in CitrakÍÖa,

that he vanquished RËvaÙa and brought back SÌtË, wore the crown
and so on, was history. In and through this history, RËma, the nËmÌ,
had given a content to the word RËma. That content survives even in
the absence of the historical RËma. It is said of HanumËn that he used
to do japa of the name of RËma even when RËma was around. Why?
Because RËma the person, cannot be put in the mind and revolved in
japa. Japa being an act of repetition, nËmÌ has no place there.
Therefore, I feel that the devotees have a basis to praise the nËma.
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What they have is the nËma and in the nËma they see the source of
inspiration, the nËmÌ.

Furthermore, this entire world of forms, rÍpa, is Brahman,

like the whole world of earthenware is but clay. This is what is
unfolded in the VedËnta ÉËstra by sentences like, “sarvaÑ
khalvidaÑ brahma - All that is here is Brahman.” What does this
word, ‘all’ mean? The ‘all’ should mean the various forms like those
made of clay. The world of earthenware is anything born of clay, like
a pot, jar, cup, saucer, and so on; none of them is separate from clay.
Therefore, the words, ‘pot’, ‘cup’, and so on are only used to refer to
the form of the clay. So too, every object like the sun, moon, earth,
space and time, is not separate from Brahman, even though each
object has its own referent and it is that which is referred to by the
words sun, moon, earth, space and time. Therefore any form, rÍpa, is
the meaning of the word, nËma. Can anyone think of a nËma without
the rÍpa? Can you repeat a known word without seeing its meaning,
the object? Can you repeat a word like apple, without seeing its
object, the fruit? Between a word, vËcaka, and its meaning, vËcya,
there is an invariable relationship. Even if you don’t have a name for a
form of clay, can you even imagine the form without imagining the
substance? This is the non-separate relationship between name and
form. If all forms are Brahman, ½Úvara, then all names are of ½Úvara.
And therefore, in one name which includes all names, I can see the
entire jagat being non-separate from ½Úvara. Therefore when you say
RËma is the Lord, the word RËma includes every other word whose
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form I cannot revolve in my mind. But the word RËma I can repeat as
a mode of prayer.

The the ÊaÖa RudrÌya consists of eleven sections, anuvËkas.

Each anuvËka has a number of hymns in different Vedic meters.
Every hymn has a seer, ÎÛi, and a devatË. There are also places where
more than one hymn is attributed to a given ÎÛi. In the first anuvËka,
the prayer to Lord Rudra is asking him to be kind and giving. From
the second to the ninth anuvËka, the Lord is saluted as sarvËtmË, all
forms constituting the world, as sarvËntaryËmÌ, the order sustaining
everything, and also as sarveÚvara, the Lord of everything. The tenth
anuvËka consists of prayers to the Lord and in the eleventh anuvËka,
the Lord is prayed to in the form of many devatËs sustaining different
spheres of experience. In the first nine sections of the Rudram, the
word namaÒ occurs three hundred times. And, therefore, the ÊaÖa
RudrÌya is also popular as Namakam in the south of India. This hymn
is invariably followed by another hymn where the syllables, ca and me
occur in every sentence, and therefore, that hymn is called camaka.
Recitation of Rudram is a part of the daily prayer for many vaidikas in
this country. Even a renunciate, sannyËsÌ, is advised to recite this
hymn daily5 with an understanding of the meaning of the mantras.

5
KaivalyopaniÛad mantra 24 - atyËÚramÌ sarvadË sakÎdvË japet - A
sannyËsÌ should repeat Rudram all the time or at least once a day.