Lord Krishna

śrī giridhāryaṣṭakam

(Sri Giridhari Ashtakam in English (IAST))

Raghunatha Prabhu

Also known as shri giridhari ashtakam · shree giridhari ashtakam · giridhari ashtakam

Eight verses by Raghunatha Prabhu, each closing on the same line — I worship that cowherd boy, the holder of the mountain — and each taking one episode to get there. Indra, drunk on the wealth of the three worlds, rains down his ending clouds, and the boy makes the shelter by his own strength. The infant climbs onto Putana as she gives him the breast and drinks her life with the milk; the demon who came as a wind is killed. Surabhi anoints him king over his own kin, and Vraja keeps the festival of the name Govinda. At day's end the women of Vraja drink his lotus face with eyes that are bees. The seventh verse leaves the story for the lineage, saying he took on the body of the son of fire to guard those who follow Vallabha's path; and a signed ninth has Raghunatha ask for the dust of his feet, naming Vitthala as the guru whose grace gave him the sense to ask.

|| śrī giridhāryaṣṭakam ||
(śrīraghunāthaprabhu kṛtam)
tryailokyalakṣmīmadabhṛtsureśvaro
yadā ghanairantakarairvavarṣaha |
tadā'karodyaḥ svabalena rakṣaṇaṃ
taṃ gopabālaṃ giridhāriṇaṃ bhaje || 1 ||
yaḥ pāyayantīmadhiruhya pūtanāṃ
stanyaṃ papau prāṇaparāyaṇaḥ śiśuḥ |
jaghāna vātāyitadaityapuṅgavaṃ
taṃ gopabālaṃ giridhāriṇaṃ bhaje || 2 ||
nandavrajaṃ yaḥ svarucendirālayaṃ
cakre digīśān divi mohavṛddhaye |
gogopagopījanasarvasaukhyakṛt
taṃ gopabālaṃ giridhāriṇaṃ bhaje || 3 ||
yaṃ kāmadogdhrī gaganāhṛtairjalaiḥ
svajñātirājye muditābhyaṣiñcata |
govindanāmotsavakṛdvrajaukasāṃ
taṃ gopabālaṃ giridhāriṇaṃ bhaje || 4 ||
yasyānanābjaṃ vrajasundarījanā
dinakṣaye locanaṣaṭpadairmudā |
pibantyadhīrā virahāturā bhṛśaṃ
taṃ gopabālaṃ giridhāriṇaṃ bhaje || 5 ||
bṛndāvane nirjarabṛndavandite
gāścārayanyaḥ kalaveṇuniḥsvanaḥ |
gopāṅganācittavimohamanmatha-
-staṃ gopabālaṃ giridhāriṇaṃ bhaje || 6 ||
yaḥ svātmalīlārasaditsayā satā-
-māviśyakārā'gnikumāravigraham |
śrīvallabhādhvānusṛtaikapālaka-
-staṃ gopabālaṃ giridhāriṇaṃ bhaje || 7 ||
|| phalaśruti ||
gopendrasūnorgiridhārio'ṣṭakaṃ
paṭhedidaṃ yastadananyamānasaḥ |
sa mucyate duḥkhamahārṇavādbhṛśaṃ
prāpnoti dāsyaṃ giridhāriṇo dhruvam || 8 ||
praṇamya samprārthayate tavāgrata-
-stvadaṅghrireṇuṃ raghunāthanāmakaḥ |
śrīviṭhṭhalānugrahalabdhasanmati-
-statpūrayaitasya manorathārṇavam || 9 ||
|| iti śrīraghunāthaprabhu kṛta śrī giridhāryaṣṭakam sampūrṇam ||

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