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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 3, 2021 6:02:56 GMT -6
Greetings all. Well, having completed Stotra Ratna it seems only right to attempt the Mukunda Mala Stotra. Here is a selection of what I have done so far.
(Who from the city takes pious way, To honour Sri Ranga, day after day; I bow my head to him, his praises sing, Kulashekhar, of kings the foremost king.)
Hail Mukunda of wide lotus-eyes bright! Whose teeth shine like jasmine, conch and moonlight; Who doth the garb of a young cowherd wear, For whom Indra and the gods honour bear, And lay each costly diadem and crest, With awful reverence at his footrest; Who dwells in Vrindavan of sacred fame, Known as the son of Vasudev by name. 1
O Mukunda! I humbly do entreat, That every day your names I may repeat; Shree-vallabha, divine lover of Shree, Granter of boons, dispenser of mercy; Lover and beloved of devotees, Who break the bonds of existence with ease; Abode of the universe, Lord divine, Who doth upon the serpent bed recline. 2
Hail Mukunda! son of Devaki hight! Hail Krishna, of the Vrishni clan the light; Hail to him of soft cloud complexion blue, Remover of earth's burden, hail to you! 3
O Mukunda! I bow my head to you, And for this one and only purpose sue, That in each birth that to me shall befall, I may your lotus-feet clearly recall. 4
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 3, 2021 8:59:41 GMT -6
The honey wine is wonderful and sweet Distilled from Sri Govinda's lotus-feet; Abstaining from which bewilders the brain, And drinking deeply sobers us again. 5
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 3, 2021 12:12:12 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 6-7
I do not bow at your two feet Hari To overcome worldly duality; Nor to escape if I indeed should dwell, And suffer affliction in boiling hell; Nor with tender nymphs of heaven to play, Nor in the divine Nandan garden stray; But in each life term that to me is due, Within my heart may I cultivate you. 6
I care not vast wealth to accumulate, Nor customary virtue cultivate, But, O Lord, whatever is due to me, According to my past deeds, let it be. But this the fervent entreaty I make, In howsoever many births I take, That I may relish constant nectar sweet, Distilled from lotus flowers of your feet. 7
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 3, 2021 14:50:04 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 8-9
Let me in heaven or on earth reside, O Narakantaka, or in hell bide; But your feet which the lotuses defy, May I contemplate even when I die. 8
To you my conscious faculty I sue, Surcease not from him who dread Mura slew, Whose eyes like fresh lotus flowers appear, Who doth the conch shell and the discus rear; And take delight in sweetest nectar rare; I know no greater pleasure to compare With the ambrosia of nectar sweet, In contemplation of Sri Hari's feet. 9
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 3, 2021 16:40:32 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 10
I always meditate on Lord Hari, Whose lotus-face shows gentle smiles of glee, The son of Nanda, Supreme Absolute, Whom Narada and the sages salute. 10
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 4, 2021 3:55:11 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 11
The placid lake of Hari is replete, With lotus hands and lotus flower feet; The flashing fishes in the lake comprise, The roving of his quick and lovely eyes; The gentle waving ripples are the charms, That represent his long and stately arms; Immersion in that lake removes distress, Occasioned by long worldly weariness; Since I in barren waste have gone astray, I shall plunge in that blessed lake today, And drink the waters thereof to be free From all my sorrows and anxiety. 11
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 4, 2021 12:21:09 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 12-14
Oh inhabiters of the world give ear! As unto you the physic I declare, Of birth and death's recurring malady, Prescribed by sages as the remedy, Such as Yajnavalkya and others too, Who yogic knowledge and wisdom pursue. A bright effulgence, immeasurable, The deathless one alone immutable, Within your very being does repose, And by the holy name of Krishna goes; Drink deep his name which is the potent cure, And beyond liberation rest secure! 12
Oh mortals! hearken, and I will be brief, And tell you for your welfare and relief; Since now you are immersed in the vast sea, Of this existence transmigratory, By waves of passions buffeted and tossed, Floundering therein and hopelessly lost. This then, Oh fellow mortals, is the way, All knowledge extraneous cast away, Salute with pure humility resigned, And contemplate Narayan in your mind; Recite the mantra over and again, With pranava prefixed as I explain, 'Om namo Naaraayanaaya' repeat, Bending in salutation at his feet. 13
Fear not, O stupid mind, nor contemplate, The many afflictions of Yama's state, Though sin-like enemies always assail, They cannot over devotees prevail, Who have for their Master the Lord of Shri. Therefore abandon lazy laxity, Narayana's contemplation maintain, And loving devotion easily gain. Will he who the world's grief away doth drive, His own devoted servants not forgive? 14
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 5, 2021 5:52:12 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 15
Those who have ventured forth upon the sea Of this existence transmigratory; Buffeted by the gales of opposites, One to himself the great burden commits, His sons, his daughters and his wife to save Born on the current of the poisoned wave Of sense pleasure, in the whirlpool drawn down, Suffering long affliction but to drown. The only hope for man who cannot float, Is to be rescued on the Vishnu-boat. 15
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 5, 2021 16:23:03 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 16-17
Mankind fallen, by blind passion beset, Bound in the toils of vain delusion's net, Constrained to birth and death's pendulous swing, Tormented by evil and suffering; The only shelter for the shelterless, The path that leads to all auspiciousness, Has been bestowed that they might understand, By him who holds the discus in his hand. 16
Thousands of offences I have in store, In the world's ocean fallen, far from shore, O shelter of the shelterless Hari! Show your exclusive grace and accept me. 17
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 6, 2021 5:23:55 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 18
Let me not take birth in the wretched state, Of femininity*, or fool to prate; Without the wit needful to understand, Nor in a wicked or degraded land; False doctrines may I never entertain, But from each birth to birth let me remain, As a sincere votary of Vishnu, And his pure loving devotion pursue. 18
*stritvam- the condition of being a woman. I would not presume to play the apologist for our author here, but to say, not to denigrate the sex rather to acknowledge the disadvantages that one half of humanity has suffered from time immemorial, or so it would seem from a perusal of recorded history. The Illustrious one himself Sri Krishna makes a similar allusion to it in words like these,
O Partha, who for refuge to me come, E'en though they be born of a sinful womb, Nay, women, merchants and laborers too, The path to the Supreme may thus pursue. (Gita. 9.32)
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 6, 2021 8:56:42 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 19
My body, speech and intellect and mind, My natural tendencies all consigned, And all I do or think or cogitate, To Narayana all I dedicate. 19
In the Bhagavata we also find,
The body, speech and intellect and mind, The natural tendencies all consigned, All that is done, thought or cogitated, Be to Narayana dedicated. (SB.XI.2.36)
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 6, 2021 11:31:09 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 20
O slayer of Madhu, Madhusudan, Whate'er I do, whatever I have done, To you the fruits of my actions are due, Not accomplished by me, but done by you. 20
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 6, 2021 16:02:37 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 21
O mind! be not fraught with perplexity On how to cross this existential sea, By fearsome rising billows tossed about, In vast boundless expanse, hard to get out; But devotion to the Lotus-eyed Lord, Passage across that ocean will afford, And he who the haughty Naraka slew, Will certainly and doubtless rescue you. 21
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 6, 2021 17:25:05 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 22
The great ocean of worldly existence, Is stirred by strong winds of concupiscence; Panting with thirst, eager for happiness, Striving with surging billows of distress, Devoured by the whirlpool of a wife, Sons and brothers like crocodiles at strife; O president in three realms I entreat, While drowning therein, at your lotus-feet, O giver of boons, grant this benison, That I may be graced with pure devotion. 22
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Post by madanmohandas on Dec 7, 2021 4:32:09 GMT -6
Mukunda Mala 23
The earth is but a mote, a drop the sea, Fire has but a sparks luminosity, The raging wind is calmed into a sigh, And but a little orifice the sky; Rudra and the creator eminent, Become, as it were, insignificant, The host of gods who dwell above the skies, Seem no more than creeping insects and flies; Hail to the pollen with glory replete, From the Illustrious one's lotus-feet; Whose splendour by comparison prevails; All other lustre minishes and pales. 23
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