devī bhujaṅga stotraṃ

Verse 1: Seated on the throne of Supreme Bliss — thronged by five world-guardians from Brahmā (Viriñchi) onward — holding bow, arrow, noose, and goad in her hands: may that great Tripurā, the non-dual power of Śaṅkara, protect us.

Verse 2: Deeply hidden within — within the five sheaths (kōśas) from the food-sheath onward, each described as having its head, wings, and tail — seated on the great yoga-throne in the innermost: I eternally praise that inner sanctum of Śiva, the destroyer of the three cities.

Verse 3: Having freely sported through the universe in forms beginning with Brahmā — when you come to rest in your own Self: I then praise that Supreme Bliss of yours, O Bhavānī, which is beyond the knower, the act of knowing, and the known.

Verse 4: For your own sport, O Goddess, you divide the one Consciousness into two — calling them by the names Jīva (the bound individual soul) and Śiva (the divine); and you even bring Śiva down to the state of a bound soul, then again make that very jīva into Śiva.

Verse 5: Contracting at the root cakra, placing the breath at the heart, bringing the mind to the cave between the eyebrows, turning fully inward — some souls, O Mother, enter your abode of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss and become one with Śiva.

Verse 6: Even amid the body's great suffering, in the company of enemies and family — who are forever the source of fear — no one becomes detached. How strange, O Goddess! How can knowledge of truth arise without your sidelong glance of grace?

Verse 7: For one who has grown detached from body, wealth, children, and spouse — whose intellect is guided by a true teacher — the sudden light arising in samādhi, which is the form of bliss: O Mother, that is the truth of 'Thou art That' (Tat tvam asi).

Verse 8: One sage calls the universe unreal; another calls it real; a third says it is mixed; a fourth calls it pure Prakṛti; yet another says it is mind-only. This host of sages measures the universe differently — yet all of it is you alone, so we do not abandon you.

Verse 9: Through the five Kalās — Nivṛtti, Pratiṣṭhā, Vidyā, Śānti, and Śāntyatītā — manifested as the twenty-five tattvas of Śaiva metaphysics: you alone, O Goddess, inseparable from Śiva, are the one to be worshipped.

Verse 10: Sunk in the fathomless mire of worldly existence, utterly weighed down by the burden of family and attachments, long bound by the massive coils of great delusion — O Mother, you alone are capable of lifting me out.

Verse 11: Rising from the root cakra to the Brahma-cakra (Sahasrāra), partaking of the divine realms of the Cakrēśvarīs — the sovereign goddesses of the Śrīcakra — having obtained the wish-tree grove of great siddhis, O Mother, the yogi worships you through nāda (sacred sound).

Verse 12: Inseparable from the Gaṇeśas, the planets, the sequence of lunar mansions, the Yoginīs, the zodiac signs, and the sacred pīṭhas — touching upon great Time as your very Self — O Great Queen, you determine the creation or sustenance of the world.

Verse 13: Adorned with sparkling star-necklaces, clothed in pure white garments, holding a book and a rosary in hand, blazing with the light of crores of autumn moons — whoever meditates on you even once becomes beloved of Sarasvatī.

Verse 14: Her face blazing like a thousand rising suns, reddening crores of universes with her own radiance alone, holding bow, arrow, noose, and goad — those who meditate upon her could even bewitch the god of Love himself.

Verse 15: With gem-studded earrings, lips red as the bimba fruit, clothed in green silk, adorned with radiant ornaments, glowing like molten gold — O Mother, whoever meditates on you in the heart destroys even Lakṣmī's fickleness and the mind's own wandering.

Verse 16: The seed-syllable at the heart of the king of great mantras, called Parā — with its bindu placed naturally, corresponding to your face, breasts, and sacred form: whoever meditates even once on that your very Self becomes you yourself.

Verse 17: Others, whose minds have grown weary of all mental projections, fixing themselves on that one — on your three bindus — and immersed in the ocean of Supreme Bliss: those wise ones never again behold the womb-door — they are never reborn.

Verse 18: Those who worship Brahmā and the rest — themselves but drops in the ocean of your qualities, qualified only by following your cosmic sport of creation — and hope thereby to cross the ocean of saṃsāra: O Śivā, this is the worthy aspiration of your devotees.

Verse 19: When shall I — having swiftly crossed the ocean of saṃsāra by the boat of your feet, fulfilled within — seeing this world sinking in the poisonous sea of false hope: how can you remain indifferent to it, O Goddess?

Verse 20: When will my senses attain equanimity? When will there be neither enemy nor friend for me, O Bhavānī? When will the epidemic of vain hope perish? When will my mind be uprooted altogether?

Verse 21: We aspire, O Goddess, O Gaurī, to offer salutation to your pair of lotus feet — brilliant, shining with the blazing light of the procession of gleaming crowns of Brahmā and all the divine ones bowed before them.

Verse 22: Her hair adorned with a crescent moon, her breasts with a star-garland, a sweet bow in her hand, bees as her arrows — I recall her, the single delight of Śiva (enemy of Kāma), with eyes whirling in divine intoxication — my very treasure.

Verse 23: May my nose find itself only in your arrows; my tongue only upon your bow; my eyes only on the crimson flower of your form; my skin only on your crescent moon; my hearing only on your glories — O Mother, may the movement of my mind ever abide in you.

Verse 24: I worship those steadfast in the world's dharma, whose fame is spread through the power of words, whose hearts brim with the fullness of compassion's flood, who have crossed to the far shore of saṃsāra's ocean, far from great sin — the essence of the Vedas, endowed with love for Śiva.

Verse 25: In the essence of the ocean of nectar, in the waters of Consciousness-Bliss, where the kadamba tree is in full bloom, on the gem-island, in the hall of assembled gems, in the golden pavilion — seated at the left side of Śiva (the enemy of Kāma): may my mind ever be seated there.

Verse 26: Playful at the corner of the eye; a garland of fragrant flower-arrows; the magical display of the universe; the far shore from calamity's ocean; dwelling in the halls of sages' hearts; bowed to by all the world-guardians; swaying with love in the heart, with a sport sweet as ambrosia — such is she.

Verse 27: This net of the universe was created by you alone, O Mother; you alone now move through it, experiencing the web of sense-objects. You alone are the doer; you alone are the enjoyer. For me there is neither merit nor sin, neither bondage nor liberation.

Verse 28: Thus, with the weight of love, I have spoken something without truly understanding the reality of 'mine' and 'yours.' O Mother, a child's foolish babbling is for your amusement — please accept this incoherent chatter as my praise.