When Anandamurti was four years old, his family, as they did every year, celebrated Shiva’s birthday. On the evening of Shivarati, the family made a small pilgrimage, climbing the stone steps to the top of Kalipahar to pray at the Shiva temple.
Prabhat entered the temple and stood quietly before the statue of Shiva. Then, with perfect pronunciation, he began solemnly reciting a relatively obscure verse in ancient Sanskrit—a verse that, at the time, was known to only a small number of people in all of India.
The meaning of the mantra was:
“Let one constantly meditate upon Maheshvara, who is like a silver mountain, whose ornament is the beautiful moon, whose limbs shine with the radiance of precious jewels; who holds an axe and the deer, who bestows blessings, and is ever blissful; who is seated in the lotus posture and wears a tiger skin; who is worshipped by all the gods; who is the seed and source of this vast universe; who removes the boundless fears of the entire universe; the One with five faces and three eyes.”
The temple priest was astonished and perplexed. He turned to Prabhat and asked, “My child, where did you learn this?”Prabhat remained silent.
His father, too, had no idea where his young son had learned the verse. The mystery was never solved.
~Adapted from Who Can Ride the Tiger (Shiva Mantra)