Prayer of the Day

Prayer in Sanskrit 

 

देवान्तरैस्सह नमस्तुतिहूतयस्ते
    तोषाय नालमलमेव विपर्यया |
पुत्रार्थिनश्चरुविधौ सह चन्द्रमौले
    सोमेन हूतमनुशुश्रम रुद्रमग्निम् || २२ || 

  
Shloka as Romanized text

 

dEvAntaraissaha namastutihUtayastE
    tOShAya nAlamalamEva viparyayAya |
putrArthinashcharuvidhau saha chandramauLE
    sOmEna hUtamanushushrama rudramagnim || 22 ||
    
( dEvAntaraiH saha namastuti hUtayaH tE
    tOShAya nAlam alam Eva viparyayAya |
putrArthinaH charuvidhau saha chandramauLE
    sOmEna hUtam anushushrama rudram agnim ||  )

Meaning of the Prayer Song:

 Saluting, praising or invoking You among the divines
is not for joy; It is indeed for misfortune!
Oh the Lord with Chandra on the crest! Even in the yagya done 
by those who seek offspring, the rudra invoked along with
soma is indeed agni. That is the study.

 Notes: 

1. hUtayaH - invoke; tOShAya - pleasing/joy; alam - for; viparyayAya - misfortune;
anushushruma - study.

2. While studying carefully the Vedas one sees that Rudra is never
invoked among other divines - while all the others are.
The reason is Rudra represents the Supreme. While all other
divines are aspects that the Supreme act through.
So it is not appropriate to equate the other divines with the Supreme.
That is the reason Rudra is always invoked specially.
(Even the offering made to Rudra is not to be given to any other.
Hence hands are washed after the offering to Rudra.)

The vedas themselves declare this:
मा त्वा॑ रुद्र चुक्रुधाम॒ नमॊ॑भि॒र्मा दुष्टु॑ति वृषभ॒ मा सहू॑ती ।

3. There would be a question then about some places where rudra
and soma are invoked together. Haradattar clarifies from the vedas
that in those places rudra means agni and not the Supreme.

4. c.f. சாவ முன்னாள் தக்கன் வேள்வித் தகர் தின்று நஞ்சம் அஞ்சி
ஆவ எந்தாய் என்று அவிதாவிடும் நம்மவர் அவரே
மூவரென்றே எம்பிரானோடும் எண்ணி விண்ணாண்டு மண்மேல்
தேவரென்றே இறுமாந்து என்ன பாவம் திரிதவரே.

(An interesting similar point is in the Sangam Tamil literature,
while the references to Lord Shiva are abundant,
when specifying divines for each of the five land type - Kurinji etc,
Shiva is not one among the listed. Because He is not "one among",
but is the Lord of all lands, Lord of all.)

See Also:
1. ஹரதத்த சிவாச்சாரியார்