Govindastakam
By Adi Sankaracarya
satyam jnanam anantam nityam anakasam paramakasam
gostha-prangana-ringana-lolam anayasam paramayasam /
maya-kalpita-nana-karam anakaram bhuvanakaram
ksamaya natham anatham pranamata govindam paramanandam // 1//
Please bow down to Govinda, supreme bliss personified. He is the Absolute Truth, as well as unlimited and eternal knowledge. Though different from the sky, He Himself is the supreme sky. Though it was with effortless ease that Hess rolled and frolicked in the courtyards of Vraja, He appeared to become tired. Though formless, He manifests in various forms fashioned by Maya, including the form of the universe. Though He shelters all the universes, He appears to need shelter.
Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, real, knowledge, infinite, and eternal, who is free from Ákáùa (and other upádhis), who is the highest light, who was eager as a child to crawl in the cow-pen, who is really free from difficulties, but who appears to be in difficulties (or who is the abode of máyá, cause of all), who appears manifold due to máyá, who appears as the world, who is the Lord of the earth and Ùri, and who has no Lord to control him. (1)
mrtsnam atsiheti yasoda-tadana-saisava-santrasam
vyadita-vaktralokita-lokaloka-caturdasa-lokalim /
loka-traya-pura-mula-stambham lokaloka manalokam
lokesam paramesam pranamata govindam paramanandam // 2 //
Please bow down to Govinda, supreme bliss personified. Though He is the supreme master of the universe, He seemed to become frightened like an ordinary infant when Mother Yasoda chastised Him. When she asked, Are You eating mud? He opened His mouth to prove He had not-and showed her the fourteen planetary systems, including Lokaloka Mountain. He is the supporting pillar for this citylike universe of three worlds. Though He is beyond all vision, He is the source of everyone's vision.
Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who showed the fear of a child when beaten by Yaùodá saying, ``You are eating earth''. and in whose opened mouth was seen the row of fourteen worlds, visible and invisible, who is the support of the three worlds (vis., Svarga, pøthvè, pátála), who is in the form of the worlds, visible and invisible, who cannot be seen, who is the controller of the universe and who is the supreme Lord. (2)
trai-vistapa-ripu-vira-ghnam ksiti-bhara-ghnam bhava-roga-ghnam
kaivalyam navanitaharam anaharam bhuvanaharam /
vaimalya-sphuta-ceto-vrtti-visesabhasam anabhasam
saivam kevala-santam pranamata govindam paramanandam // 3 //
Please bow down to Govinda, supreme bliss personified. He relieves the earth of its burden by killing the demigods' enemies, the demons, and He grants liberation by curing the disease of materialism. Though He never needs to eat, still He eats butter, and He also devours the whole universe at the time of annihilation. Though distinct from all the shadow manifestations of this world, He manifests in the sanctified desires of a pure heart. He is most auspicious and peaceful.
Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who killed the mighty enemies of the Devas and reduced the weight of the world, who removes the disease of birth (from his devotees), who is one, who had butter for his food, though not requiring food at all, who swallowed the world (during pralaya), who shines brilliantly in the pure and clear mental mode, who cannot be revealed by anything else, who adores Ùiva, and who is wholly auspicious. (3)
gopalam bhu-lila-vigraha-gopalam kula-gopalam
gopi-khelana-govardhana-dhrta-lila-lalita-gopalam /
gobhir nigadita-govinda-sphuta-namanam bahu-namanam
gopi-gocara-duram pranamata govindam paramanandam // 4 //
Please bow down to Govinda, supreme bliss personified. That protector of cows appeared in the form of a cowherd among the cowherds to perform His pastimes on earth, such as lifting Govardhana Hill to protect the cowherds and dallying with the cowherd damsels. Even the cows called Him by the name Govinda. He has unlimited names, is distinct among the cowherd boys, and is beyond the reach of the gopis' senses [when He goes to the forest during the day, or when He resides in Mathura or Dvaraka].
Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who is the protector of the world, who made his advent in the world as Gopála through his lilá, who is the protector of the race (of Yádavas) and of cows, who made the cowherds happy by lifting up through his lilá the Govardhana mountain were the gopès used to play, whose name ``Govinda'' is uttered clearly by the cows (or scriptures), who has may names, and who is beyond the reach of the ignorant. (4)
gopi-mandala-gosthi-bhedam bhedavastham abhedabham
sasvad go-khura-nirdhutoddhat-dhuli-dhusara-saubhagyam /
sraddha-bhakti-grhitanandam acintyam cintita-sad-bhavam
cintamanim ahimanam pranamata govindam paramanandam // 5 //
Please bow down to Govinda, supreme bliss personified. He enters the assembly of cowherd damsels and divides them into groups for His pastimes. He is simultaneously different from and one with everything. He considers it His good fortune to be always smeared with the dust raised by the cows' hooves. He is pleased by faith and devotion. Though He is inconceivable, His pastimes are the object of meditation. He is like a transcendental touchstone.
Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who was present in each of the different groups of gopis, who appears in different forms, who is one and nondual, whose beautiful form was covered by the dust raised always by the hooves of the cows, whose blissful nature is realized by sraddhá and bhakti, who is unimaginable, whose existence is known to the wise, and whose greatness is like that of the gem cintámaïi. (5)
snana-vyakula-yosid-vastram upadayagam uparudham
vyaditsantir atha dig-vastra hy upadatum upakarsantam /
nirdhuta dvaya-soka-vimoham buddham buddher antah-stham
satta-matra-sariram pranamata govindam paramanandam // 6 //
Please bow down to Govinda, supreme bliss personified. He stole the bathing damsels' clothes and climbed a tree with them, and when the naked maidens asked for their clothes back, He told them to come closer. He dispels lamentation and delusion. He is knowledge personified, realized by intelligence, and is also the personification of pure existence.
Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who climbed up the tree carrying the clothes of women busily engaged in their bath and who made them come close to him for the purpose of giving the clothes to them who were naked and who desired to get back their clothes, who is free from duality, grief and delusion, who is wise, who dwells in the intellect, and who is pure-existence. (6)
kantam karana-karanam adim anadim kalam anabhasam
kalindi-gata-kaliya-sirasi muhur muhuh sunrtyantam /
kalam kala-kalatitam kalitasesam kali-dosa-ghnam
kala-traya-gati-hetum pranamata govindam paramanandam // 7 //
Please bow down to Govinda, supreme bliss personified. He is most beautiful. He is the original cause of all causes, and He has no cause. He is free from all superimpositions of illusion. He danced wonderfully on the hoods of the Kaliya serpent in the Yamuna. Though He is time, He is beyond all divisions of time. He knows everything, He destroys the defects of Kali-yuga, and He is the source of past, present, and future.
Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who is beautiful, who is the ultimate cause, who is the source of everything, who is without beginning whose colour is like that of the dark cloud, which often danced excessively on the hood of the serpent Kálindè inhabiting the river Kálindè (Yamuna), who manifests as time, who transcends the measures of time, who knows everything, who is te destroyer of the evil of kali, and who is the controller of the motion of the three dimensions of time. (7)
vrndavana-bhuvi vrndaraka-gana-vrndaradhyam vande 'ham
kundabhamala-manda-smera-sudhanandam suhrd-anandam /
vandyasesa-maha-muni-manasa-vandyananda-pada-dvandvam
vandyasesa-gunabdhim pranamata govindam paramanandam // 8 //
Please bow down to Govinda, supreme bliss personified. He is the reservoir of all worshipable qualities. All worshipable saintly persons worship His blissful lotus feet within their hearts. He is my worshipful Lord. All the demigods, and Shrimati Vrndadevi as well, worship Him in the land of Vrndavana. His pure and beautiful smile emanates bliss like a kunda flower pouring forth nectar. He gives transcendental ecstasy to His cowherd friends.
Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss who is in the land of Bøandávan which is worshipped and saluted by many groups of Gods, whose nectar-bliss of spotless smile resembles kunda flower, who is infinite bliss, whose feet are praised and worshipped by the minds of all great sages adored by all, and who is the ocean of praiseworthy qualities. (8)
govindastakam etad adhite govindarpita-ceta yo
govindacyuta madhava visno gokula-nayaka krsneti /
govindanghri-saroja-dhyana-sudha-jala-dhauta-samastagho
govindam paramanandamrtam antah-sthah sa samabhyeti //
Anyone who who recites this Govindastaka, who fixes his mind on Govinda, and who sweetly chants, `O Govinda, Acyuta, Madhava, Vishnu, Gokula-nayaka, Krishna,' thus cleansing away all his sins with the ambrosial water of meditation on the lotus feet of Lord Govinda-such a soul will certainly attain Lord Govinda, the supreme, everlasting bliss of the heart.
He who recites this Govindáaúûakam by fixing his mind on Govinda and uttering the names of Govinda, Acyuta, Mádhava, Viúïu, Gokulanáyaka and Køúïa, and gets all his sins washed off by the nectar of meditation on the lotus-feet of Govinda, attains the indwelling Govinda, the nectar of the supreme bliss. (9)
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