Hymns to the Goddess
by Arthur Avalon
[Sir Arthur Woodroffe]
London: Luzac
PREFACE
THE Goddess or Devī (as the Hindus call Her) is God
(as the Western worshippers address Him) in Its Mother aspect. The latter not
uncommonly deem such attribution of feminine quality to be
"heathenish"; but this condemnation (for the criticism has, of
course, this intendment) is itself singularly foolish in that it is thereby
implied that of two sets of terms (neither of which is in its strict sense
applicable to the Deity as the Author of forms), one is, in fact, a more
correct description than the other. In the Navaratneśvara it is said: "That Devī, who is existence,
consciousness, and bliss, should be thought of as a female or as a male, or as
pure Brahman. In reality, however, She is neither male nor neuter (that is to
say, that She is not bound to any particular form)." No one contends that
the Brahmatattva in the supreme abode beyond appearances is masculine as
opposed to feminine, or the latter as contrasted with the former. Like all else
in this matter, words are but the babbling endeavour of our plane to express
that which is above it. It is not easy, then, to explain the condemnation
except upon the assumption that those who pronounce it think their mother's sex
to be inferior to their own, and that thus Deity is unworthily described by any
other terms than those of masculine excellence. But Hindus, who ever place the
name of mother before that of father, and to whom garbha dhāraṇapoṣābhyām pitur mātā
gariyasi, have no partiality for such mistaken notions. On the other hand, it
is possible that they might not understand the Christian expression
"Mother of God," nor approve it even after they had learnt the
limited and special sense which theology gives to this epithet. The Tāntrika would least of all admit
the insufficiency of the conception of God as Mother. For the Devī manifests in his own mother, in
his prakṛti (as he calls his wife), and
in all women. As the Kubjikā
Tantra says: "Whosoever has seen the feet of woman let him worship them as
those of his guru" (Strinām
pādatalam driṣtvāguruvadbhāvayet sadā). Whilst male and female are
both Her aspects, yet Śakti
is, in a sense, said to be more revealed in the female than in the male form.
And so the Muṇḍamāla Tantra says: "Wherever
there is a śaktī (female), there I am." On
account of this greater manifestation, women are called Śakti. From this, however, it
must not be supposed that Śakti
is less present in such forms as Śiva
and Kṛṣṇa and others. If, as
the author of the Tantra Tattva says, a sādhaka
who is a worshipper of the Kṛṣṇamūrti desires to see Him as Kālī,
Bhagavān, who fulfils the desires of
devotees, will assume that form. All forms come into existence upon the
manifestation of consciousness in the play of Her whose substance is
consciousness.
Though the Sāktānandataranginī says: Devī is worshipped on account of Her
soft heart (komalāntahkaraṇam), yet the use of the term
"Mother" has other grounds than those which are founded upon an
appeal to the natural feelings which the sweetness of the word
"Mother" evokes. The meaning of the term "Devī" is prakāsātmikā, or that which is by its nature
Light and Manifestation. And the word is used in the feminine gender because
the One, as Śakti and Prakṛti, bears and nourishes all
things as their Mother. The Devī
is therefore the Brahman revealed in Its Mother aspect (Śrimātā)
as Creatrix and Nourisher of the worlds.
Worshippers of Devī or Śakti are called Śāktas. But those who
have a true knowledge of Śakti-tattva
without which, according to Śāstra,
Nirvānamokṣa is unattainable, will in
thought surpass the sectarianism which the terms "Śākta", "Vaiṣṇava" and "Śaiva" ordinarily connote.
Whatever forms the Devī
assumes in Her aspect with attributes are but Her forms. As the author last
cited says, the sādhaka
will know Her, whether the appearance be that of Kṛṣṇa, Durgā, or Mahādeva. The Vaiṣṇava may consider Her
as Viṣṇu in the form of Śakti, or the Śākta may look upon
Her as Śakti in the form of Viṣṇu. To those who,
immersed in the ocean of Her substance, which is cits'akti, are forgetful of
all differences which appertain to the world of form, Kṛṣṇaśakti, Śivaśakti, or Kāliśakti,
and all other manifestations of śakti,
are one and the same. And so Rāmaprasāda, the Bengali poet and Tāntrik, sang: "Thou assumeth
five principal forms according to the differences of worship. But, O Mother!
how can you escape the hands of him who has dissolved the five and made them
into one?"
The hymns to the Devī in this volume (introduced by a
stotra to Her Spouse the Kālabhairava)
are taken from the Tantra, Purāṇa,
Mahābhārata,
and Śankarācārya,
who was "the incarnation of devotion" (bhaktāvatāra) as well as a great
philosopher; a fact which is sometimes ignored by those who do not wish to be
reminded that he, whose speculative genius they extol, was also the protagonist
of the so-called "idolatrous Hinduism." As his great example amongst
many others of differing race and creed tell us, it is not, from the view of
religion, the mark of discernment (even though it be the mode) to neglect or
disparage the ritual practice which all orthodoxies have prescribed for their
adherents. Stava and pujā
are doubtless the sādhana
appropriate to the first of the several stages of an ascent which gradually
leads away from them; but they are in general as necessary as the higher ones,
which more immediately precede the attainment of brahmabhāva and siddhi.
Apart, however, from
this aspect of the matter, and to look at it from the point of view of that
modern product, the mere "student of religions," who is not
infrequently a believer in none, a knowledge of ritual (to use that term in its
widest sense) will help to a greater and more real understanding of the mahāvākya
of the Āryas than can be gained from
those merely theoretical expositions of them which are now more popular. Those,
again, whose interests are in what Verlaine called "mere literature"
will at least appreciate the mingled tenderness and splendour of these Hymns,
even in a translation which cannot reproduce the majesty of the sanskrit ślokas of the Tantra and Purāṇa, or the rhyme and
sweet lilting rhythms of Śankara.
Of the Hymns now
published, those from the Mahābhārata and Candī have already been translated;
the first, in the English edition of the Mahābhārata, by Protap Chandra Roy and
by Professor Muir in his "Original Sanskrit Texts," and the second by
Mr. Pargiter, whose rendering of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (of which it is
the most celebrated portion) has been printed by the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
Ādyākālisvarūpastotra has also been
previously published as part of a rendering by myself of the Mahānirvāṇa Tantra. The first
two sets of Hymns have been translated afresh. In the translation of such works
a Sanskrit dictionary (however excellent) is not either a sufficient or
reliable guide. It is necessary to study the Hindu commentators and to seek the
oral aid of those who possess the traditional interpretation of the Śāstra. Without this
and an understanding of what Hindu worship is and means, absurd mistakes are
likely to be made. I have thus, in addition to such oral aid, availed myself of
the Commentaries of Nīlakanṭha on the Mahābhārata,
of Gopāla Chakravarti and Nāgogī Bhatta on Candī, and of Nīlakantha on the Devībhāgavata.
As regards the Tantra, the great Sādhana
Śāstrā, nothing which is of both an
understanding and accurate character can be achieved without a study of the
original texts undertaken with the assistance of the Tāntrik gurus and pandits, who are
the authorized custodians of its traditions.
The other stotras
are now rendered in English for the first time; at least, I have come across no
translation of them.
The text of the
Tantrasāra which has been used is that
edited by Shrījut Rasik
Mohun Chatterjee. It is not free from faults, which have necessitated reference
to other Manuscripts. A more correct text of the Tārāshtakam,
from the Nīla Tantra, is
given in the Brihatstotraratnākara,
to which reference has also been made for the hymns of Vālmīki
and Indra.
Both Ellen Woodroffe and myself have
collaborated in the translation of the hymns by Śankara.
For the rest, as also for the Introduction and Commentary, I am alone
responsible. Some of the notes deal with matter familiar enough to the Hindu
reader but have been inserted for the use of his English friends. Other
portions of the commentary will, I believe, be found to be of use to both.
JOHN
WOODROFFE
HYMNS TO THE GODDESS
INTRODUCTION
SANĀTANA BRAHMAN is called sakala
when with Prakṛti, as It is
niṣkala when thought of as without
Prakṛti (prakṛteranya), for kalā is Prakṛti. 1 To say, however, that Śakti exists in or with, the
Brahman is an accommodation to human thought and speech, for the Brahman and Śakti are in fact one. Śakti is eternal (anādirūpā),
and Brahmarūpā, and both nirguṇā and saguṇā. 2 She, the Goddess
(Devī), is the caitanyarūpiṇi
devī who manifests all bhūta; the ānandarūpiṇi
devī by whom the Brahman, who She
is, manifests Itself, 3 and who, to use the words of the Śāradātilaka, pervades the universe as
does oil the sesamum seed. "Sa aikṣata,"
of which Śruti speaks,
was itself a manifestation of Śakti,
the paramāpūrvanirvāṇaśakti, or Brahman, as Śakti.
From the paraśaktimaya issued nāda, and from nāda, bindu 4. The state of subtle
body known as kāmakalā is the mūla of mantra, and is meant when
the Devī is spoken of as mūlamantrātmikā. 1 The Parambindu is
represented as a circle the centre of which is the Brahmapada, wherein are Prakṛti-puruṣa; the circumference of which is
encircling māyā. It is in the crescent of nirvāṇakalā the seventeenth, which is again
in that of amākalā the sixteenth, digit of the
moon circle (candramaṇḍala),
situate above the sun-circle (sūryamaṇdala), the Guru and the Hamsah
in the pericarp of the 1,000 petalled lotus (sahasrārapadma). The bindu is
symbolically described as being like a grain of gram (canaka), which under its
encircling sheath contains a divided seed--Prakṛti-puruṣa or Śakti-Śiva. 2
It is known as the Śabda Brahman. 3 A polarization
then takes place in paraśaktimaya.
The Devī becomes unmukhi. Her face is
turned to Śiva. There is
an unfolding which bursts the encircling shell. 4 The devatāparaśaktimaya exists in the threefold
aspect of bindu, bīja,
and nāda, the last being in relation
to the two former. An indistinct sound then arises 5 (avyaktātmāravobhavat).
Nāda, as Rāghava Bhatta 6 says, exists in
three states, for in it are the three guṇas.
The Śabda Brahman manifests Itself in
the threefold energies, Jnāna,
Ichhā, and Kriyā Śakti.
7 For, as the Vāmakeśvara
Tantra says, the Devī Tripurā is threefold, as Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Īśa. Paraśiva exists as a septenary under
the forms of Śambhu, Śadāśiva,
Īśāna, Rudra, Viṣṇu, and Brahmā. The last five are the Mahāpreta, four of whom form the
support, and the fifth the seat, of the bed on which the Devī is united with Paramaśiva in the room of cintāmaṇi
stone on the jewelled island clad with clumps of kadamba, and heavenly trees
set in the ocean of ambrosia. 1
Śakti
is both māyā and mūlaprakṛti, whose substance is the three
guṇas, representing nature as the
revelation of spirit (sattva); nature as the passage of descent from spirit to
matter, or of ascent from matter to spirit (rajas), and nature as the dense
veil of spirit (tamas). The Devī
is thus the treasure-house of guṇas
(guṇanidhih). 2 Mūlaprakṛti is the womb into which the
Brahman casts the seed from which all things are born. 3 The womb thrills to
the movement of the essentially active rajoguṇa,
and the now unstable guṇas
in varied combinations under the illumination of Śiva
(cit) evolve the universe which is ruled by Maheśvara
and Maheśvarī. The dual principles of Śiva-Śakti, which are the product of
the polarity manifested in Paraśaktimaya,
pervade the whole universe, and are present in man in the svayambhulinga of the
mūlādhāra and the Devī Kuṇḍalinī, who in serpent form encircles
it. The Śabdabrahman assumes the form of
the Devī Kuṇḍalinī, and as such is in the form of
all breathing creatures (prāṇi),
and in the form of letters appears in prose and verse. She is the luminous
vital energy (jīvaśakti), which manifests as prāṇa. Through the various
prakṛta and vaikṛta creations, issued the Devas,
men, animals, and the whole universe, which is the work and manifested form of
the Devī. For, as the Kubjikā Tantra says, "Not Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra create,
maintain, and destroy, but Brāhmī, Vaiṣṇavī, Rudrāṇī. Their husbands are
but as dead bodies."
The Goddess (Devī) is the great Śakti. She is māyā,
for of Her the māyā which produces the samsāra is. As Lord of māyā,
She is Mahāmāyā.
1 Devī is avidyā (nescience), because She binds;
and vidyā (knowledge), because She
liberates and destroys the samsāra.
2 She is Prakṛti, 3 and, as
existing before creation, She is the ādya
(primordial) śakti. She is
the vācaka-śakti, the manifestation of cit
in Prakṛti; and the vācya śakti or cit itself. The ātmā
should be contemplated as Devī.
4
Śakti
or Devī is thus the Brahman revealed in
its Mother aspect (srīmātā)
5 as creatrix and nourisher of the worlds. Kālī says of Herself in Yoginī Tantra: 6 "Saccidānandarupāham Brahmaivāham sphuratprabham." So the
Devī is described with attributes
both of the qualified 7 Brahman, and (since that Brahman is but the
manifestation of the Absolute), She is also addressed with epithets which
denote the unconditioned Brahman. 1 She is the great Mother (ambikā) sprung from the sacrificial
hearth of the fire of the Grand Consciousness (cit) decked with the Sun and
Moon; Lalitā--"She
who plays"--whose play is world-play; whose eyes, playing like fish in the
beauteous waters of Her Divine face, open and shut with the appearance and
disappearance of countless worlds, now illuminated by Her light, now wrapped in
her terrible darkness. 2 For Devī,
who issues from the great Abyss, is terrible also in Her Kālī,
Tārā,
Chinnamastā, and other
forms. Śāktas hold that a
sweet and complete resignation of the self to such forms of the Divine Power
denotes a higher stage of spiritual development. 3 Such dualistic worship also
speedily bears the fruit of knowledge of the Universal Unity, the realization
of which dispels all fear. For the Mother is only terrible to those who, living
in the illusion of separateness (which is the cause of all fear), have not yet
realized their unity with Her, and known that all Her forms are those of
beauty.
The Devī as Parabrahman is beyond all
form and guṇa. The forms
of the Mother of the universe are threefold. There is first the Supreme (para)
form, of which, as the Viṣṇu
Yāmala 1 says, "none
know." There is next Her subtle (sūkṣma) form, which consists of
mantra. But, as the mind cannot easily settle itself upon that which is
formless, 2 She appears as the subject of contemplation in Her third or gross
(sthūla) or physical form, with hands
and feet and the like, as celebrated in the Devīstotra
of the Purāṇas and
Tantras. Devī, who as Prakṛti is the source of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara, 3 has both male and female
forms. 4 But it is in Her female forms that she is chiefly contemplated. For,
though existing in all things, in peculiar sense female beings are parts of
Her. 5 The Great Mother, who exists in the form of all Tantras and all Yantras,
6 is, as the Lalitā
says, the "unsullied treasure-house of beauty," the sapphire Devī 7 whose slender waist, 1
bending beneath the burden of the ripe fruit of her breasts, 2 swells into
jewelled hips heavy 3 with the promise of infinite maternities 4. Her litanies
depict Her physical form from head to foot, celebrating Her hair adorned with
flowers and crowned with gems; Her brow bright as the eighth-day moon; Her ruby
cheeks and coral lips; teeth like to "the buds of the sixteen-syllabled
mantra," and eyebrows curved as are the arches at the gate of the palace
of Kāmarāja; Her nose; Her teeth; Her
chin; Her arms; and "Her twin breasts offered in return for that priceless
gem which is the love of Kāmeśvara"; Her waist girdled
with jewelled bells; Her smooth and faultless limbs rounded beneath the
"jewelled disc of the knee like the sapphire-studded quiver of the God of
Love" descending in lines of grace to Her bright louts feet, 1 which
dispel the darkness of Her worshippers. 2 For moonlight is She, yet sunbeam,
soothing all those who are burnt by the triple fires of misery (tāpatraya). Her face, Her body
from throat to waist, and thence downwards, represent the vāgbhava and other kūta. The colour of the Devī varies according to the form
under which She is contemplated. Thus, in conferring liberation, She is white;
as controller of women, men, and kings, She is red; and as controller of
wealth, saffron. As creatrix of enmity, She becomes tawny; and in the thrill of
love, passion (śṛngāra), She is of the colour of the
rose. In the action of slaying She becomes black. Thus, Devī, the Supreme Light, is to be
meditated upon as differently coloured according to Her different activities. 3
After the
description of the form of the Devī
in brahmāṇḍa follows that of
Her subtle form, called Kuṇḍalinī in the body (piṇḍāṇḍa). As the Mahādevī 4 She exists in all forms as Śarasvatī, Lakṣmī,
Gāyatrī, Durgā, Tripurasundarī, Annapurṇā, and all the Devī who are avatāra of the Brahman. 1
Devī, as Satī, Umā, Pārvatī, and Gourī, is spouse of Śiva. It was as Satī, prior to Dakṣa's sacrifice (dakṣayajna) that the Devī manifested Herself to Śiva 2 in the ten celebrated
forms known as the daśamahāvidyā--Kālī,
Bagala, Chinnamastā,
Bhuvaneshvarī, Mātanginī, Shorosi, Dhumāvati, Tripurasundarī, Tārā,
and Bhairavī. When at the
dakṣayajna She yielded up Her life
in shame and sorrow at the treatment accorded by Her father to Her husband, Śiva took away the body, and,
ever bearing it with him, remained wholly distraught and spent with grief. To
save the world from the forces of evil which arose and grew with the withdrawal
of His divine control, Viṣṇu,
with his discus (cakra), cut the dead body of Satī,
which Śiva bore, into fifty-one
fragments, which fell to earth at the places thereafter known as the fifty-one
3 mahāpīthasthānas, where Devī, with her Bhairava, is
worshipped under various names.
Thus the right and
left breasts fell at Jalandhara and Ramgiri, where the Devī is worshipped as Tripuramālinī; the yoni at the celebrated
shrine at Kamrup in Assam, where the Devī
is worshipped as Kāmākṣā
or Kāmākhyā (see ibid.); 4 the throat,
shoulders, nose, hands, arms, eyes, fingers, tongue, buttocks, lips, belly,
chin, navel, cheeks, thighs, teeth, feet, ears, thumbs, heels, toes (some at Kālīghat),
waist, hair, forehead, with skeleton (several of these parts being themselves
divided), fell at other pītha,
at each of which the Devī
is worshipped under different names in company with a Bhairava or Śiva, also variously named. Thus,
the Devī at Kālīghat
is Kālikā, and the Śiva Nakuleśvara, and the Devī at Kamrup is Kāmākshā, and Her Bhairava is Ramānanda.
These are but some
only of Her endless forms. She is seen as one and as many: as it were, but one
moon reflected in countless waters. 1 She exists, too, in all animals and
inorganic things, since the universe, with all its beauties, is, as the Devī Purāṇa says, but a part
of Her. All this diversity of form is but the infinite manifestations of the
flowering beauty of the one Supreme Life--a doctrine which is nowhere else
taught with greater wealth of illustration than in the Śākta Śāstras and Tantras.
The great Bharga in the bright sun, and all Devatā,
and, indeed, all life and being are worshipful, and are worshipped, but only as
Her manifestations. 2 And he who worships them otherwise is, in the words of
the great Devībhāgavata, 3 "like unto a man
who, with the light of a clear lamp in his hands, yet falls into some waterless
and terrible well." It is customary nowadays to decry external worship,
but those who do so presume too much. The ladder of ascent can only be scaled
by those who have trod all, including its lowest, rungs. The Śaktirahasya summarises the
stages of progress in a short verse, thus: "A mortal who worships by
ceremonies, by images, by mind, by identification, by knowing the self, attains
kaivalya." Before brahma-bhāva
can be attained the sādhaka
must have passed from pūjābhāva
through hymns and prayer to dhyāna-bhāva. The highest worship 1 for
which the sādhaka is
qualified (adhikāri)
only after external worship, and that internal form known as sādhāra
2 is described as nirādhāra. Therein Pure Intelligence is
the Supreme Śakti who is
worshipped as the Very Self, the Witness freed of the glamour of the manifold
universe. By one's own direct experience of Maheśvarī as the Self, She is, with
reverence, made the object of that worship which leads to liberation.
(KĀLABHAIRAVĀṢṬAKA)
I WORSHIP Kālabhairava, 1 Lord of the city
of Kāśī,
Whose sacred lotus
feet are worshipped by the King of Devas,
The compassionate
One,
Whose sacrificial
thread is made of serpents,
On whose forehead
shines the moon.
The naked one,
Whom Nārada and multitudes of other
Yogis adore.
Kāśikāpurādhinātha kālabhairavam bhaje.
I worship Kālabhairava, Lord of the city of
Kāśī,
Blazing like a
million suns,
Our great Saviour in
our voyage across the ocean of the world.
The blue-throated,
three-eyed grantor of all desires,
The lotus-eyed, who
is the death of death,
The imperishable
One,
Holding the rosary
of human bone and the trident.
Kāśikāpurādhinātha Kālabhairavam bhaje.
I worship Kālabhairava, Lord of the city of
Kāśī,
The primeval cause,
Holding in His hands
trident, axe, noose, and staff
--Him of the black
body,
The first of all
Deva , imperishable, incorruptible,
Lord formidable and
powerful,
Who loves to dance
wonderfully.
Kāśikāpurādhinātha kālabhairavam bhaje.
I worship Kālabhairava, Lord of the city of
Kāśī,
Of great and
beautiful body,
The giver of both
enjoyment and liberation,
Who loves and smiles
upon all His devotees,
Whose body is the
whole world,
Whose waist is
adorned with little tinkling bells;
Beautiful are they,
and made of gold.
Kāśikāpurādhinātha kālabhairavam bhaje.
I worship Kālabhairava, Lord of the city of
Kāśī,
The protector of the
bridge of dharma,
Destroyer of the
path of adharma,
Liberator form the
bonds of karma,
The all-pervading
giver of welfare to all,
Whose golden body is
adorned with serpent coils.
Kāśikāpurādhinātha kālabhairavam bhaje.
I worship Kālabhairava, Lord of the city of
Kāśī
Whose feet are
beautiful with the lustre of the gems thereon--
The stainless,
eternal Iṣṭadevatā,
One without a
second,
Destroyer of the
pride, and liberator from the gaping jaw of the God of Death.
Kāśikāpurādhinātha kālabhairavam bhaje.
I worship Kālabhairava, Lord of the city of
Kāśī,
Whose loud laughter
broke the shell of many an egg of the lotus-born;
Strong ruler, at
whose glance the net of sin is broken; Giver of the eight powers,
Whose shoulders
serpents garland.
Kāśikāpurādhinātha kālabhairavam bhaje.
I worship Kālabhairava, Lord of the city of
Kāśī,
The Saviour of all,
giver of great fame,
The all-pervading
One,
Who purifies of both
sin and virtue the people of Kāśī;
The ancient Lord of
the world,
Wise in the wisdom
of all moralities.
Kāśikāpurādhinātha kālabhairavam bhaje.
BHAIRAVĪ
(BHAIRAVĪSTOTRA)
FROM THE TANTRASĀRA
THUS shall I pray to
Thee, O Tripurā,
To attain the fruit
of my desires,
In this hymn by
which men attain that Lakṣmī,
Who is worshipped by
the Devas.
Origin of the world
thou art,
Yet hast Thou
Thyself no origin,
Though with hundreds
of hymns.
Even Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara 5 cannot know Thee.
Therefore we worship
Thy breasts, Mother of all Śāstra,
Shining with fresh
saffron.
O Tripurā, 1 we adore Thee,
Whose body shines
with the splendour of a thousand risen suns,
Holding with two of
thy hands a book and rosary of rudrākṣa beads,
And with two others
making the gestures
Which grant boons
and dispel fear.
With three lotus
eyes is Thy lotus face adorned.
Beauteous is Thy
Neck with its necklace of large pearls.
O Mother, how can
the ignorant, whose minds are restless with doubt and dispute,
Know Thy form
ravishing with its vermilion,
Stooping with the
weight of Thy breasts,
Accessible only by
merit,
Acquired in previous
birth?
O Bhavānī,
1 the munis 2 describe thee in physical form;
The Śruti speaks of Thee in subtle
form;
Others call Thee
presiding Deity of speech;
Others, again, as
the root of the worlds.
But we think of Thee
As the untraversable
ocean of mercy, and nothing else.
Worshippers
contemplate Thee in their heart
As three-eyed,
adorned with the crescent moon,
White as the
autumnal moon,
Whose substance is
the fifty letters,
Holding in Thy hands
a book, a rosary, a jar of nectar, and making the vyakhya mudrā.
O Tripurā, Thou art Śambhu 1 united with Pārvatī.
Thou art now Viṣṇu embraced by Kamalā,
And now Brahmā born of the lotus.
Thou art again the
presiding Devī of speech,
And yet again art
the energy of all these.
I, having taken
refuge with the four--
Bhāvas, Parā, and others born of the vāgbhava
(bīja),
Shall never in my
heart forget Thee, the supreme Devatā,
Whose substance is
existence and intelligence,
And who expresseth
by Thy throat and other organ
The bhāva appearing in the form of
letters.
The blessed, having
conquered the six enemies,
And drawing in their
breath,
With steady mind fix
their gaze on the tip of their nostrils,
And contemplate in
their head Thy moon-crested form, 5
Resplendent as the
newly risen sun.
The Vedas proclaim
that Thou createth the world,
Having assumed the
other half of the body of the enemy of Kāma.
Verily is it true, O
Daughter of the mountain and the only World-mother,
That had this not
been so,
The multitude of
worlds would never have been.
In company with the
wives of the Kinnaras,
The Siddha women,
whose eyes are reddened by wine
Having worshipped
Thee with the flowers of celestial trees
In Thy pītha in the caverns of the golden
mountain, Sing Thy praises.
I worship in my
heart the Devī whose body
is moist with nectar, Beauteous as the splendour of lightning,
Who, going from Her
abode to that of Śiva,
Opens the lotuses on
the beautiful way of the suṣuṁnā.
O Tripurā, I take refuge at Thy lotus
feet,
Worshipped by Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara;
The abode of bliss,
the source of the Vedas,
The origin of all
prosperity;
Thou whose body is
Intelligence itself.
I shall never forget
Her who is the giver of happiness;
She it is, O Mother,
who, in the form of the Moon,
Creates the world
full of sounds and their meanings,
And again, by Her
power in the form of the Sun,
She it is who
maintains the world.
And She, again, it
is who, in the form of Fire, destroys the whole universe at the end of the
ages.
Men worship Thee
under various names--
As Nārāyaṇa 1; as She who saves from the
ocean of Hell;
As Gaurī; as the allayer of grief; as
Sarasvatī,
And as the
three-eyed giver of knowledge.
O Mother of the
world, such as worship Thee with twelve Verses of this hymn attain to Thee, and
gain all powers of speech and the supreme abode.
BHUVANEŚVARI
FROM THE TANTRASĀRA
Now I pray for the
attainment of all blessings to Bhuvaneśvarī,
The cause and Mother
of the world,
She whose form is
that of the Śabdabrahman,
And whose substance
is bliss.
Thou art the
primordial One,
Mother of countless
creatures,
Creatrix of the
bodies of the lotus-born, Viṣṇu
and Śiva.
Who creates,
preserves, and destroys the three worlds.
O Mother! by hymning
Thy praise I purify my speech.
O Daughter of the
Mountain-King,
Thou art the cause
of the world-destroying energy of Śiva,
Who manifests in
earth, water, fire, ether, the sacrificer, the sun and moon,
And who destroyed
the body of Manmatha.
O Mother! men only
worship the triple-streamed Gangā
Because She shines
in the matted hair of Śiva,
Which has been
purified
By the dust of Thy
lotus feet.
As the moon delights
the white night lotus and none other,
As the sun delights
the day lotus 1 and none other,
As one particular
thing only delights one other,
Thou, O Mother!
delightest the whole universe by Thy glances.
Although Thou art
the primordial cause of the world,
Yet art Thou ever
youthful;
Although Thou art
the Daughter of the Mountain-King,
Yet art Thou full of
tenderness.
Although Thou art
the Mother of the Vedas,
Yet they cannot
describe Thee.
Although men must
meditate upon Thee,
Yet cannot their
mind comprehend Thee.
O Mother of the
worlds!
Those who have
reached that birth amongst men
Which if so
difficult to attain,
And in that birth
their full faculties,
Yet nathless do not
worship Thee,
Such, though having
ascended to the top of the stairs,
Nevertheless fall
down again.
O Bhavānī!
Such as worship Thee
with fragrant flowers and sandal paste,
Ground with cool
water and powdered camphor,
Gain the sovereignty
of the whole world.
O Mother! like the
sleeping King of serpents,
Residing in the
centre of the first lotus,
Thou didst create
the universe.
Thou dost ascend
like a streak of lightning,
And attainest the
ethereal region.
Thy body, having
been moistened with the nectar flowing from That,
Thou dost again
reach Thy abode by that way.
O Mother and Spouse of
Maheśvara!
They in whose heart
Thou glitterest are never reborn.
O Gaurī! with all my heart
I contemplate Thy
form,
Beauteous of face,
With its weight of
hanging hair,
With full breasts
and rounded slender waist,
Holding in three
hands a rosary, a pitcher, and a book,
And with Thy fourth
hand making the jnānamudrā.
O Bhuvaneśvarī
Yogis who have
restrained their senses
And have conquered
the six enemies,
In yoga with calm
minds behold Thee
Holding noose and a
goad,
And making the vara
and abhaya mudrās.
Thou art Lakṣmī,
Rivalling the lustre
of molten gold,
Holding two lotuses
in two of Thy hands,
And with the other
two making the gestures which grant boons and dispel fear.
Four elephants
holding jars (in their trunks),
Sprinkle Thy head
with nectar.
O Bhavānī!
Thou art Durgā, seated on a
lion,
Of the colour of
durvā grass,
Holding in Thy eight
hands various kinds of dreadful weapons,
And destroying the
enemies of the immortals.
I remember again and
again the dark primeval Devī
swayed with passion,
Her beauteous face
heated and moist with the sweat (of amorous play),
Bearing a necklace
of Ganjā berries, 6 and clad with
leaves.
O Spouse of Śrīkaṇṭha,
I place on my head
Thy blue lotus feet,
Which are followed
by the Vedas,
As swans are lured
by the tinkling sound of an anklet.
O Bhavānī!
I worship thy body from ankle to knee, 1
Upon which the
bull-bannered one gazes with great love,
And who, as if not
satiated by looking thereon with two eyes,
Has yet made for
himself a third.
I call to mind thy
two thighs,
Which humble the
pride of the trunk of an elephant,
And surpass the
plantain-tree in thickness and tenderness.
O Mother! youth
fashioned those thighs
That they may
support as two pillars the weight of thy (great) hips,
Looking at thy
waist, 1 it would seem as if it had been absorbed
And become the great
bulk of thy breasts and hips.
By the youth which
clothes the body with hair,
May it ever be
resplendent in my heart!
O Devī! may I never forget thy navel,
As it were a secure
inviolate pool,
Given to Thee by Thy
blooming youth,
Filled with the
liquid beauty of the beloved of Smara,
He who was fearful
of the fire from the eyes of Hara.
Thy two lotus-like
breasts, smeared with sandal,
Which bear ashes
telling of Śiva's
embrace,
Call to mind the
vermilion-painted temples moist with ichor Of some (impassioned) elephant
Rising from his bath
in waters,
Flicked with foam.
O Mother! Thy two
arms, beauteous with the water
Dripping from Thy
body bathed from neck to throat,
Seem to have been
formed by the crocodile-bannered One,
As long nooses
wherewith to hold the throat of his enemy (Śiva).
May I never forget
them!
O Daughter of the
Mountain-King,
Again and again have
I looked upon Thy shapely neck,
Which has stolen the
beauty of a well-formed shell,
And is adorning with
pleasing necklace and many another ornament;
Yet am I never
satiated.
O Mother! he has not
been born in vain
Who oft calls to his
mind
Thy face, with its
large round eyes and noble brow,
Its radiant cheeks
and smile,
The high, straight
nose,
And lips red as the
bimba fruit.
Whoever, O Devī! contemplates upon Thy wealth
of hair,
Lit by the crescent
moon,
Resembling a swarm
of bees hovering over fragrant flowers,
Is freed of the
ancient fetters which bind him to the world.
The mortal who in
this world
Devoutly from his
heart reads this hymn,
Sweet to the ears of
the wise,
Attains for ever all
wealth in the form of that Lakṣmī
Who attends the
crowned kings who are prostrate at Her feet.
Shakti and Shâkta -by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe),
Mahanirvana
Tantra- All- Chapter -1 Questions
relating to the Liberation of Beings
Tantra
of the Great Liberation
श्वेतकेतु और
उद्दालक, उपनिषद की कहानी, छान्द्योग्यापनिषद, GVB THE UNIVERSITY OF VEDA
यजुर्वेद
मंत्रा हिन्दी व्याख्या सहित, प्रथम अध्याय 1-10,
GVB THE UIVERSITY OF VEDA
उषस्ति की
कठिनाई, उपनिषद की कहानी, आपदकालेमर्यादानास्ति,
_4 -GVB the uiversity of veda
वैराग्यशतकम्, योगी
भर्तृहरिकृत, संस्कृत काव्य, हिन्दी
व्याख्या, भाग-1, gvb the university of Veda
G.V.B. THE
UNIVERSITY OF VEDA ON YOU TUBE
इसे भी पढ़े-
इन्द्र औ वृत्त युद्ध- भिष्म का युधिष्ठिर को उपदेश
इसे भी पढ़े
- भाग- ब्रह्मचर्य वैभव
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राजकुमार और
उसके पुत्र के बलिदान की कहानीः-
पुरुषार्थ और विद्या- ब्रह्मज्ञान
संस्कृत के अद्भुत सार गर्भित विद्या श्लोक हिन्दी अर्थ सहित
श्रेष्ट
मनुष्य समझ बूझकर चलता है"
पंचतंत्र- कहानि क्षुद्रवुद्धि गिदण की
कनफ्यूशियस के शिष्य चीनी विद्वान के शब्द। लियोटालस्टा
कहानी माधो चमार की-लियोटलस्टाय
पर्मार्थ कि यात्रा के सुक्ष्म सोपान
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