Parāpūjā

When the indivisible, eternally blissful, free from transition or change, and induplicate gets stationary (or understood) in mind, then tell me how can I do the prayers!||1|| What should be to used to invoke the complete and what should be used as a seat for the One Who is the supreme pillar of existence? Where is the way to clean the feet of the spotless and where is the way to purify the pure.||2||

Of what use is a sacred thread to One Who has no caste or creed? What is the use of fragrance for the One Who cannot be applied and hat is the use of garland for someone Who cannot wear?||3|| What is the use of jewellery for One without discrimination and What will be an adoration for the formless?||4||

What will a dispassionate One, Who is omnipresent, do with dhūpa and dīpa? And of what use will be savory sweet for that Who is satisfied in One's own bliss.||5|| What is the point in offering tāmbūla to the Father of the bliss of the world, Who is self-luminous, Who is the universal spirit, and Who shines forth the sun, the moon and others.||6||

How is circumambulation of the infinite, Who is induplicable, possible? How do we eulogize an entity Who is beyond the scope of the sentences of the Veda.||7|| How do we offer light to the resplendent self-luminous One? And how do we dress someone Who is complete in every way?||8||

This is the only Parāpūjā that should be kept without doubt, in every age, by those who know the Brahma.||9||

O Śambhu! You are my Ātman, Girijā is my mind, Your accompaniments are my life-forces, Your body is my residence. My various enjoyment and constructions be Your prayer. My sleep be the state of meditation. My walking be Your circumambulation and my spoken words be Your eulogies. And whatever I do, that all may be Your adoration.||10||

Poet: Ādi Śańkara
Source: Stotraratnāvalī — Gitapress