Stotras

Out of His own volition, projecting power of His maya, Bramhan becomes Iswara, the personal God and to bless the devotees manifests Himself in several divine forms in which a seeker contemplates on Him.  Hence Sri Shankara Bhagavat Pada purified the rituals of worship of Shiva, Devi, Vishnu, Surya, Ganapati and Kumara and composed devotional hymns on each of these divine forms to help the devotees.  These divine forms are not different.  They are manifestations of the Supreme, and devotion to any one of them accompanied with complete self surrender will bring divine grace, which will lead the Sadhana to Jnana and liberation.  Because of his acceptance of the worship of six divine forms then in vogue, he is known as Shanmata Sthapaka.  Since God is omnipresent, it is also possible to speak of His limited presence; or special presence;  just as a King ruling over the whole earth can be referred to as the King of Ayodhya.  This is done for the sake of contemplation, God is taught to be meditated upon there in the lotus of heart, just as Lord Hari is taught to be meditated on a Saligrama.  A certain state of intellect catches a glimpse of Hari there.  God though omnipresent, becomes gracious when worshipped there.  Just as space, though all pervasive is referred to as having a limited habitation and minuteness form the point of view of its association with the eye of the needle, so also is the case with Bramhan.

Sri Adi Shankara, after writing his life-giving commentaries upon the sacred books of our culture, provided the seekers with a voluminous devotional literature, singing his own love of the Lord.  Every one of this Stotras is culled out from the garden of the Upanishads, and strung together on the chord of His poetry, interspersed with his inquisitive similes.