The 6 Ancient Verses That Quietly Change How You See Yourself
Nirvana Shatakam Verse by Verse. A Guide to Ego, Identity, and Consciousness
Hey You!
In my previous piece, I wrote about how Nirvana Shatakam quietly explains emotional freedom.
But the deeper I sat with this hymn, the more I realized something.
Each verse dismantles a completely different layer of identity.
Not aggressively.
Almost tenderly.
Like someone slowly removing masks you forgot you were wearing.
And maybe that is why this ancient Sanskrit hymn still feels alive centuries later.
Because eventually every human being reaches a point where the identities they built stop fully satisfying them.
The job title stops answering the deeper ache.
The healing journey stops feeling complete.
The relationship no longer defines the self.
Even the spiritual identity starts feeling heavy.
And underneath all of it, a question quietly begins rising:
Who am I beneath everything I have learned to call “me”?
That is the journey Nirvana Shatakam takes us through.
Not toward becoming someone new.
But toward remembering what remains after the performance of identity begins falling away.
What Is Nirvana Shatakam?
Nirvana Shatakam is a six-verse Sanskrit hymn written by Adi Shankaracharya, one of the most influential teachers of Advaita Vedanta.
The name itself means:
Nirvana = liberation (loosely because it also translates to- being formeless, neither this nor that, as complete equanimity, peace, tranquility, freedom and joy)
Shatakam = six verses
But this is not liberation in the dramatic, mystical way many people imagine.
It is subtler than that.
It is the liberation that happens when you stop mistaking temporary experiences for your deepest self.
Every verse follows the same structure.
First, it removes a false identity.
Then it returns to the same realization:
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham
“My true nature is pure consciousness and bliss. I am Shiva.”
Not Shiva as a personality.
Not Shiva as mythology alone.
But Shiva as consciousness itself.
The stillness beneath the noise.
The awareness beneath the mind.
The infinite beneath the temporary.
And the more I sit with these verses, the more I realize something uncomfortable and beautiful at the same time:
Most suffering begins the moment we forget this.
Verse 1
“I Am Not the Mind”
Mano buddhyahankara chittani naham
Na cha shrotra jihve na cha ghrana netre
Na cha vyoma bhumir na tejo na vayuh
Chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Translation
I am not:
the mind,
intellect,
ego,
memory,
senses,
or physical elements.
My true nature is pure consciousness and bliss.
The first verse goes directly for the strongest illusion humans carry:
“My thoughts are me.”
Think about how deeply people merge with their mind.
A thought appears:
“I am failing.”
And suddenly the body reacts emotionally as though the statement is absolute reality.
A memory appears.
A fear appears.
An insecurity appears.
And within seconds, awareness disappears into identification.
The mind says:
“I am anxious.”
“I am broken.”
“I am behind.”
“I am unworthy.”
The thought becomes identity.
And identity becomes suffering.
That is the trap.
Because emotions were never meant to become permanent self-definitions.
They were experiences passing through consciousness.
But modern life trains people to build identity around emotional states.
People introduce themselves through wounds now.
Trauma becomes personality.
Overthinking becomes personality.
Healing becomes personality.
Even sadness becomes personality.
And eventually many people stop asking:
“What am I experiencing?”
They begin asking:
“What is wrong with me?”
That shift changes everything.
This first verse interrupts that fusion completely.
It says:
You are not the thought.
You are the awareness noticing the thought.
And that realization can feel deeply unsettling at first.
Because if you are not your thoughts…
Then who are you?
The Observer You Forgot About
One of the strangest moments on the spiritual path is realizing there is a part of you silently watching everything.
Watching thoughts.
Watching emotions.
Watching reactions.
Watching identities rise and fall.
And that observer itself remains untouched.
Still.
Present.
Aware.
That is the doorway this verse opens.
Not intellectual spirituality.
Direct self-inquiry.
Modern Emotional Exhaustion
This verse feels painfully relevant today because modern culture keeps people trapped inside nonstop mental activity.
Scroll.
Consume.
React.
Compare.
Analyze.
Repeat.
The nervous system rarely experiences silence anymore.
Which means many people have never experienced themselves separate from mental noise.
No wonder inner peace feels distant.
How can awareness recognize itself while constantly drowning in stimulation?
Reflection
Pause for a moment and ask yourself honestly:
Which thoughts have I repeated so often that they started feeling like identity?
Because maybe the sentence:
“This is just who I am”
…is not truth.
Maybe it is repetition.
Verse 2
“I Am Not the Body or the Roles I Perform”
Na cha prana sangyo na vai pancha vayuh
Na va sapta dhatur na va pancha koshah
Na vak pani padam na chopastha payuh
Chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Translation
I am not:
the breath,
bodily systems,
organs,
body layers,
or physical functions.
I am pure consciousness and bliss.
After dissolving mental identity, the hymn moves into physical identity.
Because humans do not only identify with thoughts.
They identify with form.
Appearance.
Age.
Beauty.
Success.
Gender.
Productivity.
Roles.
Titles.
Status.
Eventually people stop living naturally and begin performing versions of themselves constantly.
The successful one.
The spiritual one.
The healed one.
The strong one.
The independent one.
The wounded one.
And the performance becomes exhausting because the nervous system never fully relaxes.
Something is always being maintained.
The Quiet Weight of Roles
The older I get, the more I notice how many invisible identities people carry every day.
Professional identity.
Family identity.
Relationship identity.
Social identity.
Online identity.
Spiritual identity.
And after years of repetition, many people genuinely forget who they are outside those structures.
That is why silence can feel uncomfortable.
Because when the role disappears temporarily, the self underneath suddenly becomes visible.
And many people have never truly met that self.
“If I Do Not Know Me…”
One question has been echoing inside me repeatedly these past months:
If I do not know myself, then who is choosing?
And for whom am I choosing?
That question quietly dismantles entire lives.
Because many decisions people make are inherited unconsciously.
The career.
The timeline.
The relationship goals.
The success metrics.
The “dream life.”
People chase futures without first understanding the self chasing them.
And eventually the soul grows tired.
Not of life.
Of performance.
Reflection
Who are you when nobody needs anything from you?
No role.
No productivity.
No performance.
No identity to maintain.
Who remains then?
Verse 3
“I Am Beyond Emotional Attachment”
Na me dvesha ragau na me lobha mohau
Mado naiva me naiva matsarya bhavah
Na dharmo na chartho na kamo na mokshah
Chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Translation
I am beyond:
attachment,
greed,
jealousy,
pride,
delusion,
and even worldly or spiritual pursuits.
I am pure consciousness and bliss.
Most suffering is not created by emotion itself.
It is created by attachment.
Attachment to outcomes.
Attachment to validation.
Attachment to identity.
Attachment to being chosen.
Attachment to being right.
Attachment to being seen a certain way.
The ego survives through attachment because attachment reinforces the illusion of self.
That is why emotional reactions often feel so intense.
Something deeper is being threatened:
identity.
Not truth.
Identity.
The Spiritual Ego Nobody Talks About
This verse also exposes something deeply uncomfortable inside modern spirituality.
Spirituality itself can become ego performance.
“I am healed.”
“I am awakened.”
“I am high vibrational.”
“I manifested this.”
“I shifted timelines.”
And suddenly spirituality becomes another identity the ego protects.
Another costume.
Another hierarchy.
Another attachment.
But real awakening feels quieter than performance.
More spacious.
More ordinary.
Less obsessed with proving evolution.
The Exhaustion of Constant Becoming
There comes a stage where even self-improvement starts feeling heavy.
You stop wanting to optimize every emotion.
You stop wanting to endlessly “fix” yourself.
You stop obsessing over becoming your future self.
And instead a different longing appears:
What if I stopped running from myself long enough to simply be with myself?
That shift changes spirituality completely.
Reflection
What are you emotionally attached to becoming?
And who would you be without that attachment?
Verse 4
“I Am Beyond Good and Bad”
Na punyam na papam na saukhyam na duhkham
Na mantro na tirtham na veda na yajnah
Aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhokta
Chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Translation
I am not:
virtue or sin,
pleasure or pain,
rituals,
scriptures,
or religious performances.
I am pure consciousness and bliss.
This verse is where the hymn becomes radically liberating.
Because it dismantles one of the deepest unconscious prisons humans live inside:
The need to constantly measure themselves.
Good enough.
Successful enough.
Spiritual enough.
Healed enough.
Productive enough.
Worthy enough.
Modern life quietly conditions people into believing their value must always be earned.
Through achievement.
Through perfection.
Through healing.
Through suffering.
Through usefulness.
And after years of this, many people become emotionally exhausted without understanding why.
Because they are carrying the impossible burden of trying to deserve their own existence.
The Performance of “Being Good”
There are people who spend their entire lives trying to become acceptable.
Acceptable to society.
Acceptable to family.
Acceptable to God.
Acceptable to themselves.
And the pressure becomes endless because the mind always moves the goalpost.
Once one milestone is reached, another appears.
Once one insecurity is healed, another surfaces.
Once one level of success is achieved, another becomes necessary.
This is why external achievement alone never creates lasting peace.
Because the ego cannot be permanently satisfied.
It survives through lack.
Even Healing Can Become Perfectionism
One thing I have noticed deeply in spiritual and healing spaces is how easily growth becomes another pressure system.
People begin monitoring themselves constantly.
Was that thought high vibration enough?
Was that reaction healed enough?
Did I manifest correctly?
Did I sabotage myself energetically?
Did I meditate enough?
Did I journal enough?
Did I clear enough subconscious blocks?
And slowly the nervous system becomes exhausted from self-surveillance.
The soul begins suffocating underneath endless self-correction.
This verse breaks that cycle.
Not by rejecting growth.
But by dissolving the illusion that consciousness itself needs to earn worthiness.
Beyond Duality
This verse repeatedly removes opposites:
good and bad,
pleasure and pain,
sacred and ordinary.
Why?
Because awareness exists before division.
The sky does not become damaged because storms pass through it.
Consciousness remains untouched beneath temporary experiences.
That realization creates immense inner spaciousness.
Not emotional numbness.
Freedom.
Reflection
How much of your life has been spent trying to become worthy instead of realizing you already are?
Verse 5
“I Am Beyond Labels and Social Conditioning”
Na me mrityu shanka na me jati bhedah
Pita naiva me naiva mata na janma
Na bandhur na mitram gurur naiva shishyah
Chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Translation
I am beyond:
fear of death,
social identity,
family identity,
labels,
relationships,
and external definitions.
I am pure consciousness and bliss.
This verse cuts through inherited identity so directly that it can feel uncomfortable to sit with.
Because most people inherit an entire sense of self long before they consciously understand life.
You inherit:
beliefs,
fears,
ambitions,
timelines,
relationship expectations,
cultural definitions of success,
emotional patterns,
survival mechanisms.
Then eventually those inherited identities become so normalized that they feel personal.
But are they?
That is the question this verse quietly asks.
The Life Script
Study hard.
Get stable.
Build a career.
Get married.
Have children.
Achieve success.
Repeat.
Again, none of these things are inherently wrong.
The problem begins when unconscious conditioning becomes stronger than conscious truth.
Because then people stop choosing from alignment.
They choose from inherited momentum.
And this creates one of the strangest forms of suffering:
Externally successful lives that feel internally disconnected.
People wake up one day with the very life they once worked desperately for and still feel empty underneath it.
Not because they failed.
Because they never stopped long enough to ask:
“Do I genuinely want this?”
Borrowed Dreams
I think one of the most painful realizations on the spiritual path is understanding how many desires were inherited unconsciously.
Sometimes we chase:
approval disguised as ambition,
validation disguised as love,
safety disguised as success,
fear disguised as discipline.
And because society rewards performance, people can spend decades becoming versions of themselves that were never deeply true.
That realization can feel devastating at first.
Then freeing.
Because awareness creates choice.
Fear of Losing Identity
Most people are not afraid of transformation.
They are afraid of losing familiar identity.
Even painful identities can feel safe because they are known.
The mind would rather suffer predictably than dissolve into uncertainty.
That is why awakening often feels disorienting before it feels peaceful.
You begin questioning everything:
your goals,
your emotional patterns,
your relationships,
your motivations,
your identity itself.
And somewhere inside that unraveling, something more authentic begins emerging.
Not constructed.
Remembered.
Reflection
Which parts of your identity genuinely feel alive inside you?
And which parts feel inherited?
Verse 6
“What Remains When Everything Falls Away?”
Aham nirvikalpo nirakara rupo
Vibhur vyapya sarvatra sarvendriyanam
Na cha sanghatam naiva muktir na meyah
Chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Translation
I am:
formless,
limitless,
beyond separation,
beyond bondage,
beyond even the need for liberation.
I am pure consciousness and bliss.
This final verse feels less like explanation and more like dissolution.
By now the hymn has removed:
mind,
body,
emotion,
attachment,
social conditioning,
labels,
performance,
identity.
And naturally the question becomes:
What remains now?
The answer is not another identity.
Not another role.
Not another spiritual label.
Awareness itself remains.
Pure presence.
The witnessing consciousness beneath every temporary experience.
The Stillness Beneath Everything
There is a kind of peace that does not come from achieving anything.
It comes from no longer fighting yourself constantly.
No longer trying to prove yourself constantly.
No longer needing every emotion, success, failure, or relationship to define who you are.
And maybe this is what “Shivoham” truly points toward.
Not:
“I am superior.”
Not:
“I am spiritually special.”
But:
“The essence within me is not separate from consciousness itself.”
That realization softens something deep inside.
The endless grasping begins slowing down.
The compulsive becoming begins relaxing.
For the first time, you stop trying so hard to manufacture yourself.
And you simply sit with what already exists underneath the noise.
Why This Hymn Still Feels So Relevant Today
Modern culture constantly encourages identity construction.
Build your brand.
Build your image.
Build your personality.
Build your success story.
Build your “best self.”
And while growth itself is beautiful, many people eventually become exhausted from carrying identity nonstop.
That exhaustion is spiritual.
The soul gets tired of performance eventually.
Which is why teachings like Nirvana Shatakam feel almost shocking today.
Because instead of telling you who to become…
it asks:
Who are you without all of it?
That question changes people.
Quietly.
Irreversibly.
The Real Meaning of Emotional Freedom
Before, I thought emotional freedom meant:
healing every wound,
mastering every emotion,
becoming endlessly aligned.
Now I think emotional freedom may be something simpler and deeper.
Maybe emotional freedom is realizing:
thoughts are temporary,
emotions are temporary,
identities are temporary,
roles are temporary,
stories are temporary.
And awareness itself remains untouched beneath all of them.
Not detached from life.
Present within it.
One final note..
The deeper I go into spirituality, the less interested I become in constantly becoming someone.
And the more interested I become in remembering what already exists underneath identity itself.
Not the personality.
Not the achievements.
Not the healing journey.
Not the image.
Not even the spiritual self.
Just presence.
Just consciousness.
Just essence.
Maybe that is why this hymn has survived for centuries.
Because eventually every human being reaches a point where borrowed identities stop feeling enough.
And the soul begins searching for something more permanent than performance.
Maybe that search itself is sacred.
And maybe, quietly, Nirvana Shatakam was always pointing us back home.
PS: The way I have written about Nirvana Shatakam here is not a strict academic interpretation. It is a deeply personal understanding shaped through my spiritual journey, my teachers, contemplation, and direct inner inquiry. I’m also sharing the original verses here, because some teachings are meant to be felt as much as understood.
Just before I logged into Substack, I was checking my membership details at Nirvana Spa - a place where I feel so present and free. I walk around in a spa robe like every other person, no make up, hair clipped up and simple footwear. This, not needing to be anything to anyone, not even myself is liberating and while I'm there I spend time being present in the moment, taking in the beauty of my surroundings and sounds of the spa pools - I often Journal too as there are never any interruptions, any chores to do or emails to read... there really is no place like Nirvana and I understand, thanks to your post, precisely why they decided to call the spa Nirvana 💖
Your post is so beautifully written and completely relatable, I especially loved this;
"The sky does not become damaged because storms pass through it.
Consciousness remains untouched beneath temporary experiences."
I feel I've understood this for a very long time, but need reminding of it every now and then - thank you for that reminder 🫶🏻