Shloka 53
Śiva-nāma-sahasraka-kathana
The Recital/Teaching of the Thousand Names of Śiva
बालखिल्यो महावीरस्तिग्मांशुर्बधिरः खगः । अभिरामः सुशरणः सुब्रह्मण्यः सुधापतिः
bālakhilyo mahāvīrastigmāṃśurbadhiraḥ khagaḥ | abhirāmaḥ suśaraṇaḥ subrahmaṇyaḥ sudhāpatiḥ
He is the Bālakhilya—subtle and austere; the Great Hero; the Radiant One with piercing rays; the Silent (beyond ordinary hearing); the Sky-goer. He is the Delightful One, the excellent Refuge, the gracious Protector of the pious and the Brahmanas, and the Lord of the nectar of immortality.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Īśāna
Type: stotra
Role: liberating
FAQs
This verse presents Shiva as both transcendent and accessible: beyond the senses (“badhiraḥ” as silence beyond hearing) yet the sure refuge (“suśaraṇaḥ”). In Shaiva Siddhanta, such names guide the soul (paśu) to surrender to the Lord (Pati) who alone grants liberation.
These epithets are used as contemplative supports in Saguna worship—chanting and meditating on Shiva’s qualities while offering to the Linga. The names point from form to formless: the Linga is worshipped as the manifest sign of the Reality that is ultimately beyond sensory limitation.
Nama-japa and śaraṇāgati: chant Shiva’s names (or the Panchakshara “Om Namaḥ Śivāya”) with the attitude of taking refuge in him (“suśaraṇaḥ”), ideally alongside Linga-pūjā with water/abhisheka and mindful meditation on Shiva as the giver of amṛta (“sudhāpatiḥ”).