दूर्वाश्यामं महोग्रं स्फुटजलदधरं सूर्यचन्द्राग्निनेत्रं
चक्रं वज्रं त्रिशूलं शरमुसलगदाशक्त्यभीतीर्वहन्तम् |
शङ्खं खेटं कपालं सधनुहलफणीत्रोटदानानि हस्तैः
सिंहारिं साळुवेशं नमतरिपुजनप्राणसंहारदक्षम् ||
dūrvāśyāmaṃ mahograṃ sphuṭajaladadharaṃ sūryacandrāgninetraṃ
cakraṃ vajraṃ triśūlaṃ śaramusalagadāśaktyabhītīrvahantam |
śaṅkhaṃ kheṭaṃ kapālaṃ sadhanuhalaphaṇītroṭadānāni hastaiḥ
siṃhāriṃ sāḻuveśaṃ namataripujanaprāṇasaṃhāradakṣam ||
While my iṣṭadaiva is Nṛsiṃha in his several forms, I have always had considerable amount of love and dedication for the related form of Sharabheśvara. Our Guru gave me the mantra of this form of Mahāśambhu as uttarāṅga of Mahāvidyā Vanadurgā. For many years, I had a mistaken notion that as an ardent upāsaka of Nṛsiṃha, it was obligatory not to show anything more than customary respect to Sāḻuveśa, restricting my communication with him to minimal japa on special occasions. At the same time however, I spent humongous time reciting the mantras of Shūlinī and Atharvaṇa Bhadrakālī.
But Parāmbā has her ways of correcting our mistaken notions. Out of nowhere, the image of Sharabheśvara constantly began to appear while reciting Mantrarāja and Sudarśana Nṛsiṃha mantras, which are part of our daily practice. I was horrified and almost felt it to be blasphemous to contemplate on Sharabha while reciting the mantra of his fabled ari, Nṛsiṃha. Over a period of time, the truth of a certain sameness in these two forms began to dawn upon me and several intricate aspects of their upāsanā were revealed.
In Biṃbāmbikā Saṃpradāya, the unique aspect is the worship of Svacchanda Bhairava through a complex mantra which includes the mantrarāja of Nṛsiṃha. The recension of Aghora mantra typically used for this purpose by Kashmir Shaivities, on the other hand, is only used along with Mantrarāja for certain specific prayogas. The prayogas of Sharabha are widely used in this sampradāya with various combinations:
Sharabha Kālī: Sharabheśvara and Dakṣiṇā Kālī
Mahāśarabha: Sharabha, Shīlinī and Pratyaṅgirā
Ugraśarabha: Sharabha pañcāśat and Aghora
Sharabhasiṃha: Sharabha, Nṛsiṃha and Sudarśana
Sharabhāveśa: Sharabha and Vīrabhadra
Vaidyarāja: Sharabha pañcākṣara, Amṛtabhairava, Parā etc.
As per the instructions of our Guru Chinmudrānandanātha, I spent considerable time practicing some of these combinations. Several years later, when I came into contact with Srī Pattu Shāstrigal (Parānandanātha of Guhānanda Maṇḍalī), a śiṣya of Yogānandanātha (the famed astrologer and upāsaka of Ucchiṣṭa Mahāgaṇapati, Srī Kuñcitapādayyar), and a praśiṣya of the incomparable Srī Chidānandanātha. Srī Shāstrigal was one of the most well-known upāsakas of Sharabheśvara in recent times and was a treasure-house of information regarding every aspect of this upāsanā. He taught me some rare aspects of this form of Rudra, himself being very curious about my practices related to Nṛsiṃha.
Our Guru Srī Chinmudrānātha narrated an interesting experience. Somewhere during the turn of this century, he lived near Lodheshvara Mahādeva temple in Barabanki, at that time immersed in the worship of Parā Sundarī. A certain Aghori who also lived nearby tried to strike a conversation with our Guru, who being the eternal recluse, gave him a cold shoulder. Enraged, the Aghori performed a certain prayoga of his iṣṭa Hanumān, and decided to humiliate our Guru. The next day, when our Guru completed his oblations and was returning to his abode, a few monkeys jumped on him. While they could not get near him, they followed him to his abode and stood outside his door making screeching, menacing noises. Extremely annoyed, our Guru invoked a combined form of Sharabha and Shūlinī, took a few bananas and threw them at the monkeys. The monkeys initially refused to touch the bananas, but slowly were drawn to them and ate them. Within no time, they turned around and chased after the Aghori. The next day, the Aghori was seen leaving the town, horribly disfigured by the monkeys. No one ever saw monkeys in that region again!
It is time to invoke the grace of Mahāśarabha end of this month, on the auspicious occasion of Sharabhāṣṭamī, to rid oneself of enemies both external and internal.