Garland of Flames

The following Sanskrit verse is not drawn from any scripture but is a synthetic composition, written in the idiom of the classical Śaiva Āgamas, and meant to be inspirational. It weaves together images and phrases found in the early Agamas  that articulated exoteric ritual and contemplative life of Śaiva worship.

This verse and image envisions a tenth-century temple where the Liṅga—symbol of transcendence—shines like pure light, and before it Naṭarāja radiates with the light of oil lamps. Yogins and devotees gaze upward in awe, their hearts awakening in the glow of oil lamps.

Though not a quotation from any extant text, its phrases echo real Āgamic sources: the Suprabhedāgama’s meditation on the Jyotirliṅga, the Kāmika Āgama’s lamp rituals, and the Mahākāla Saṃhitā’s vision of Śiva in a halo of fire. It captures, in poetic synthesis, the central Śaiva insight that outer worship and inner realization mirror one another—the temple’s flame and the heart’s flame being one.

This modern verse thus offers not scripture, but scriptural feeling: the devotional and aesthetic atmosphere of the Āgamic world rendered anew in Sanskrit light.

---oṁ---

 antarāle sthitaṃ liṅgaṃ jyotirūpaṃ sanātanam |

tasya mūle tu bhagavān naṭarājo virājate ||

dīpālokāvalībhis tu jvālāmālāvṛtaṃ vapuḥ |

paśyanti yogino bhaktyā hṛdayaṃ bhāvayanti ca ||

mudrābhiḥ praṇavenaiva saṃpūjya parameśvaram |

tatra bhāvātmikā bhaktiḥ pratyakṣaṃ rūpamaśnute |

In the inner sanctum stands the eternal Liṅga, radiant as light itself.

At its base shines the Lord Naṭarāja.

His body is encircled with a garland of flames from rows of oil lamps.

The yogins, beholding Him with devotion, awaken their hearts in reverence.

With sacred gestures and the sound of Praṇava they adore the Supreme Lord;

There, devotion becomes form — visible, tangible, and filled with Presence.

|| oṁ namaḥ śivāya ||