Prathana (eBook)

THE GOVINDA PRAYER

FROM THE ŚRĪ BRAHMA SAMHITĀ

iśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
saccitānanda vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

Supreme Lord Krishna, Govinda,
the One whose body is consciousness,
existence and eternity. He is the origin of all,
and has no origin. He is the cause of all causes.

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī sahasra-śata sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, the first
progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding
all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems,
surrounded by millions of trees, always served
with great reverence and affection by hundreds of
thousands of Lakshmis or gopis.

veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ
barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam
kandarpa koṭi-kamanīya viśeṣa-śobhaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is
adept in playing on His flute, with blooming
eyes like lotus petals, with a head bedecked with
peacock feathers, with the figure of beauty tinged
with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique
loveliness charming millions of cupids.

ālola candraka-lasad vanamālya-vaṁśī
ratnāṅgadaṁ praṇaya keli-kalā vilāsam
śyāmaṁ tri-bhaṅga-lalitaṁ niyata-prakāśaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, round
whose neck is swinging a garland of flowers
beautified with the moon-locket. Whose two
hands are adorned with the flute and jeweled
ornaments, who always revels in pastimes of
love, whose graceful threefold-bending form of
Shyamasundara is eternally manifest.

aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti
paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti
ānanda-cinmaya sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, whose
transcendental form is full of bliss, truth,
substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling
splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental
figure possesses the full-fledged functions of all
the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and
manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and
mundane.

advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam
ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca
vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is
inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure
unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a
second, who is not subject to decay, is without
a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the
beginning and the eternal Purusha; yet He is a
person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.

panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara sampragamyo
vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām
so ’py asti yat-prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, only the tip
of the toe of His Lotus Feet are approached by
the yogis who aspire after the transcendental and
betake themselves to pranayama by repeating
the respiration; or by the jnanis who try to find out
the non-differentiated Brahman by the process
of elimination of the mundane, extending over
thousands of millions of years.

eko ’py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ
yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ
aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no
distinction between potency and the Possessor
thereof. In His work of creation of millions of
worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the
universes exist in Him and He is present in His
fullness in everyone of the atoms that are scattered
throughout the universe, at one and the same time.
Such is the Primeval Lord whom I adore.

yad bhāva-bhāvita-dhiyo manujās tathaiva
samprāpya rūpa mahimāsana-yāna-bhūṣāḥ
sūktair yam eva nigama-prathitaiḥ stuvanti
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I adore the same Govinda, the Primeval Lord, in
whose praise men, who are imbued with devotion,
sing the mantra-suktas told by the Vedas, by gaining
their appropriate beauty, greatness, thrones,
conveyances and ornaments.

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa pratibhāvitābhis
tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ
goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, residing in
His own realm, Goloka, with Radha, resembling His
own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic
potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities,
in the company of Her confidantes, embodiments
of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated
and vitalised by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.

premāñjana cchurita bhakti vilocanena
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is
Shyamasundara, Krishna Himself with inconceivable
innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees
see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion
tinged with the salve of Love.

rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan
nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who
manifested Himself personally as Krishna and the
different avatars in the world in the forms of Rama,
Nrsimha, Vamana, etc., as His subjective portions.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi
koṭiṣvaśeṣa vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, whose
effulgence is the source of the non-differentiated
Brahman mentioned in the Upanishads, being
differentiated from the infinity of glories of the
mundane universe appears as the indivisible,
infinite, limitless truth.

māyā hi yasya jagad-aṇḍa-śatāni sūte
traiguṇya-tad-viṣaya-veda-vitāyamānā
sattvāvalambi para-sattva viśuddha-sattvaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is the
Absolute Substantive Principle being the ultimate
entity in the form of the support of all existence
whose external potency embodies the threefold
mundane qualities [sattva, rajas and tamas] and
diffuses the Vedic knowledge regarding the
mundane world.

ānanda-cinmaya rasātmatayā manaḥsu
yaḥ prāṇināṁ pratiphalan smaratām upetya
līlāyitena bhuvanāni jayaty-ajasraṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, whose glory
ever triumphantly dominates the mundane world by
the activity of His own pastimes, being reflected in
the mind of recollecting souls as the transcendental
entity of the ever-blissful cognitive rasa.

goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya
devī maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu
te te prabhāva-nicayā vihitāś ca yena
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

Lowest of all is located Devi-dhama [mundane
world]; next above it is Mahesha-dhama [abode
of Mahesha]; above Mahesha-dhama is placed
Hari-dhama [abode of Hari]; above them all is
located Krishna’s own realm named Goloka.
I adore the Primeval Lord Govinda, who has
allotted their respective authorities to the rulers of
those graded realms.

sṛṣṭi-sthiti pralaya-sādhana śaktir ekā
chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti durgā
icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

The external potency Maya who is of the nature of
the shadow of the full potency, is worshipped by
all people as Durga, the creating, preserving and
destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore
the Primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with
whose will Durga conducts Herself.

kṣīraṁ yathā dadhi vikāra-viśeṣa-yogāt
sañjāyate na hi tataḥ pṛthag asti hetoḥ
yaḥ śambhutām api tathā samupaiti kāryād
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

Just as milk is transformed into yoghurt by the
action of acids, but yet the effect curd is neither
same as, nor different from its cause (milk), so
I adore the Primeval Lord Govinda of whom
the state of Sambhu is a transformation for the
performance of the work of destruction.

dīpārcir eva hi daśāntaram abhyupetya
dīpāyate vivṛta-hetu-samāna-dharmā
yas tādṛg eva hi ca viṣṇutayā vibhāti
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (2)

The light of one candle being communicated
to other candles, although it burns separately
in them, is the same in its quality. I adore the
Primeval Lord Govinda...