In this episode of “5 Minutes,” Dr. Robert Svoboda explores the deeper meaning of Shivoham and the relationship between the individual self and Shiva.

Shivoham literally means “I am Shiva.” However, many people say Shivoham and identify themselves egoically with Shiva, which is exactly not what it means.

Vimalananda was fond of repeating the Tantric saying: Shivoh bhutva Shivam yajet. This means, “One should worship Shiva only after becoming Shiva.” The implication is that when you try to worship Shiva while your own individual ego is performing the worship, you can only partially enter into the reality where Shiva exists.

Only after you have either emptied yourself and allowed yourself to be filled with Shiva, or after you have completely identified your own Self with Shiva, can you truly know how to worship Shiva while in a physical body.

The first path, emptying yourself and allowing Shiva to fill you, is the path of bhakti. The second path, actively transforming yourself into Shiva, is the path of jnana. Only when you reach the end of these processes can you genuinely understand what it means to worship Shiva.

Ultimately, Shivoham is true. Even if you say it while speaking from the perspective of your individual ego, there is still a deeper truth behind it. At the moment, you may identify yourself with your body and your limited personality, but ultimately you understand that you are Chit Ananda, existence, consciousness, and bliss. You are not limited by these temporary conditions because ultimately you are Shiva.

However, you cannot simply identify yourself with Shiva unless you have already become Shiva.

This is the purpose behind practices such as singing the Atma Shatakam, the six-verse song traditionally attributed to Adi Shankaracharya. Its refrain says, Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham, meaning, “I am the form of consciousness and bliss. I am Shiva. I am Shiva.”

This does not mean that the person singing the song, in their present condition, is already Shiva. It means that by singing it, you acknowledge that when you are able to identify your awareness with the bliss that is Shiva, then you can truly say Shivoham.

Until then, you are practicing and preparing yourself for the moment when you can genuinely experience that truth.

Another way to approach this is to imagine that Shiva himself has entered into you and that it is Shiva who is singing the song and making the statement. Eventually, there will be a point between the first moment when you identify yourself with the statement “I am Shiva” and the moment when that identification becomes complete and Shiva himself is expressing it through you.

The Atma Shatakam first explains what Shiva is not. The verses state that Shiva is not the mind, not the intellect, not individual awareness, and not any limited mental construction. Only in the final verse does it begin to express what Shiva truly is: Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham.

It speaks of Shiva as beyond form, Nirakara, without limitation or fixed shape.

Therefore, whenever you worship Shiva while living in this body and personality, remember that although your individual self is performing the worship, you are preparing yourself for the moment when you will truly be able to worship Shiva, when Shiva is present within you worshipping himself.

Shivoh bhutva Shivam yajet.