śrī ekadaṃta stotra

Salutation to Shri Ganesha.

When they saw that the great demon had become wholly calm, the gods led by Vishnu

and the sages led by Bhrigu came to Ekadanta.

They bowed to him and worshipped him first, then bowed to him again with reverence.

Full of joy, they praised Ekadanta, the lord of the ganas.

The gods and sages said: He is the self that always is, the beginning of all things, free of maya, the one we know as I am he, whose awareness is beyond thought,

the one without beginning, middle or end. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Ganesha is made of endless awareness. He is the first, beyond both oneness and difference,

he holds the light in the heart and lives in our own minds. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

He is the beginning of the universe, and he shines plainly in the hearts of yogis, the one

always reached in samadhi that leans on nothing. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

He plays through his own reflection. His own maya takes shape in the form of the bindu,

and he gives it his own power. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Made able by your power, maya shaped the universe,

a universe made of sound, and known as your own self. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Ekadanta holds all things up by your being. He is the one Ganesha who teaches the three gods;

the three, each set in his own place, served him and so reached the unborn one. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Then, set moving by you, the sound shaped this world of two, of self and other.

His form is joy, and he stays the same in all. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

By your grace alone that same universe came into being first, shining through tamas.

He has many forms, yet he is unborn and one. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Then, moved by you, it brought forth the very subtle world that rests in the one,

made of sattva, white, endless and first. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Through tapas, Ganesha, that same world became the dream, full of perfection and of many kinds,

and yet by your grace it too has one form. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Moved again by you, who live in the heart, it brought forth the world in its parts,

and from it came the waking world, beyond measure. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

When the waking world, shining with rajas, was looked on by your grace,

then it became many, though it is of your one form. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Having made the world in this way through the nature of Prakriti, you shine within it always,

the one lord of the ganas, giver of understanding. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

By your command all the planets shine, and the stars shine in the sky,

held up by you with nothing beneath them. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

By your command Brahma creates, and by your command Vishnu protects;

by your command Hara too destroys. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

By his command the earth rests amid the waters, by his command the rivers run with water,

and the ocean always keeps within its shore. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

By his command the gods in heaven always hand out the fruits of actions,

and by his command the mountains stand unmoving. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

By his command Shesha bears the earth, by his command Time deludes all beings,

and by his command Aryaman, the sun, keeps time. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

By his command the wind blows and moves, by his command fire lives in the belly and elsewhere,

and by his command all that moves and does not move exists. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

He is the one hidden deep inside all things, by whose command all this shines,

of endless forms, who wakes understanding in the heart. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Yogis reach him by the strength of yoga. Who could praise him with a hymn?

So may our bowing please him, and may he give us success. We go for refuge to that Ekadanta.

Gritsamada said: Having praised him in this way, the gods and the sages, full of delight,

fell silent, and then they danced for joy.

Pleased at heart with their hymn, Ekadanta spoke to them.

Loving to his devotees, he said to those blessed gods and sages:

Ekadanta said: Gods, and you hosts of sages, I am pleased with this hymn.

Choose a boon. I am the giver of boons, and I will give you what your hearts desire.

This hymn to me that you have made will give me joy,

and without doubt it will give every success.

Whatever anyone wishes for, I will give it when this hymn is read.

The reader gains sons, grandsons and all the rest, and wealth and grain.

He is sure to gain elephants, horses and every other good thing in plenty, and the enjoyments of a kingdom.

He gains the good of this life and release, and the yoga that gives peace.

Spells to kill or drive away, imprisonment by a king, and every such bond:

people who read or hear this hymn are set free from them all.

One who reads its twenty-one verses twenty-one times

every day, in this way, for twenty-one days,

finds nothing hard to gain in all the three worlds.

Such a person achieves what cannot be achieved, and wins everywhere.

The man who reads this hymn every day becomes one with Brahman.

Even the gods are made pure by the sight of him.

Hearing his words, the gods and sages, overjoyed,

all spoke to Gajanana with joined palms, full of devotion.