Six verses. Each one lists things a person might take himself to be, denies every item on the list, and ends with the same line. The Nirvana Shatakam — also called the Atma Shatakam — is the shortest complete statement of Advaita in the tradition, and it works entirely by subtraction.
🗿 Nirvana Shatakam at a Glance
Also called: Atma Shatakam — the six verses on the Self
Attributed to: Adi Shankaracharya, traditionally at his first meeting with Govindapada
Length: 6 verses, each with the same refrain
Method: neti neti — not this, not this
Refrain: chidānanda rūpaḥ śhivo'ham śhivo'ham
Metre: bhujangaprayata — a flowing four-ya-gana line
📑 Table of Contents
🗣️ The Question
The tradition's account: the young Shankara came to Govindapada's cave on the Narmada and was asked a single question — ko bhavān?, “who are you?” The six verses are the answer, and Govindapada accepted him as a disciple on hearing them.
📜 What Each Verse Denies
mano-buddhy-ahaṅkāra-chittāni nāhaṁ
na cha śhrotra-jihve na cha ghrāṇa-netre |
na cha vyoma-bhūmir na tejo na vāyuḥ
chidānanda-rūpaḥ śhivo'haṁ śhivo'ham ||
I am not the mind, the intellect, the ego or the memory; nor the ear and the tongue, nor the nose and the eyes; nor space, earth, fire or air. I am of the nature of consciousness and bliss — I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
| Verse | What it denies |
|---|---|
| 1 | The antahkarana — mind, intellect, ego, memory; the senses; the elements |
| 2 | The five pranas, the seven dhatus, the five sheaths; the organs of action |
| 3 | Aversion and attachment, greed and delusion, pride and envy; the four purusharthas — dharma, artha, kama and moksha |
| 4 | Merit and demerit, pleasure and pain, mantra, pilgrimage, the Vedas and the sacrifice; the enjoyer, the enjoyment and the enjoyed |
| 5 | Death and fear, caste distinction, father and mother, birth; friend and relative, teacher and disciple |
| 6 | Change and form; being pervasive, being everywhere, beyond the senses; without liberation and without bondage |
📌 The two that catch people
Verse 3 denies moksha. Not only dharma, artha and kama but liberation itself is negated as something the Self is — which is exactly consistent with Advaita: the Self is not liberated, because it was never bound.
Verse 5 denies the guru. The hymn composed as an answer to a teacher's question includes the line that there is no teacher and no disciple. Given the setting, the line is not accidental.
🕋 The Refrain
Every verse ends the same way:
chidānanda rūpaḥ śhivo'haṁ śhivo'ham
I am of the nature of consciousness and bliss — I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
💡 What shivoham claims and does not claim
Shivo'ham — śhivaḥ + aham — is not the claim to be the deity Shiva of the Puranas. In this hymn shiva carries its adjectival sense: the auspicious, the benign, and by extension the pure consciousness that Advaita identifies with Brahman. It stands in the same family as the four Mahavakyas, and specifically as ayam ātmā brahma — this Self is Brahman.
The doubling — shivoham shivoham — is not emphasis for its own sake. Having spent the verse removing every identification, the line has to be said twice because the first saying is what remains when the removal is finished.
In practice
- Recited as a meditation rather than a petition — there is nothing asked for anywhere in the six verses.
- Used widely in Advaita study as a first text, since it states the position without technical vocabulary.
- Commonly sung; the bhujangaprayata metre carries a melody easily.
- Recited on Maha Shivaratri and in daily Shaiva and Vedantic practice.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is the story behind the Nirvana Shatakam?
The young Shankara came to Govindapada's cave on the Narmada and was asked one question — ko bhavān?, who are you? The six verses are the answer. The account comes from the Shankara-vijaya hagiographies and is traditional rather than independently documented, as is the attribution — though the philosophy is squarely Advaita and consistent with his commentarial work.
Does the Nirvana Shatakam really deny moksha?
Yes — verse 3 negates dharma, artha, kama and moksha alike. This is exactly consistent with Advaita rather than a contradiction of it: the Self is not liberated, because it was never bound. Verse 6 says it explicitly — without liberation and without bondage.
What does shivoham mean?
Śhivo'ham is śhivaḥ + aham, “I am Shiva” — not the claim to be the Puranic deity. Here shiva carries its adjectival sense: the auspicious, the benign, and by extension the pure consciousness Advaita identifies with Brahman. It stands with the four Mahavakyas, closest to ayam ātmā brahma.
Why is it called both Nirvana Shatakam and Atma Shatakam?
Shatakam here means a set of six — the hymn's six verses. It is called Nirvana Shatakam for what it leads to and Atma Shatakam for what it is about. Both names are current and refer to the same text.
🙏 Conclusion
The Nirvana Shatakam answers “who are you?” by refusing every available answer — the mind, the senses, the elements, the emotions, the goals of life including liberation, the family, the teacher, and finally form and change themselves. What is left after six verses of subtraction is the line the hymn has been repeating all along. It is the shortest route into Advaita that the tradition has, and it does not use a single technical term to get there.