{"collection":"tantra","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tantra/htg/htg20.htm","path":"tantra/htg/htg20.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tantra/htg/htg20.htm","text":"Hymns to the Goddess, by John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), [1913]\n1\nMay that Dev\u012b by whose power this world was spread,\n The perfect form of the powers of countless Devas,\u00a02\n The Mother\u00a03 worshipped by Devas and Maha\u1e5b\u1e63is,\u00a04\n Do good to us.\n2\nMay that Ca\u1e47\u1e0dik\u0101 whose peerless majesty and power\n Neither Bhagav\u0101n Ananta,\u00a05 Brahm\u0101, nor Hara\u00a06 can declare,\n Turn Herself towards us for the destruction of the fear of evil,\n And the protection of the whole world.\n3\nWe bow to Her who is good fortune itself in the dwellings of the virtuous,\n Ill-fortune in those of the sinful,\n Reason\u00a01 in the hearts of the intelligent, faith in those of the good,\n Modesty in that of the high born.\n Protect, O Dev\u012b! this universe.\n4\nHow can we describe Thy thought-transcending form,\n Or, Thy greatly abounding strength which destroyed the Asuras,\u00a02\n Or, O Dev\u012b! those great deeds of Thine\n Done in battle midst hosts of Devas, Asuras, and others?\n5\nThou art the cause of all the worlds,\n Though Thy substance is the three gu\u1e47as,\u00a03\n Yet is no fault known in thee.\u00a04\n Incomprehensible art Thou even to Hari, Hara,\u00a05 and other Devas,\u00a06\nThou art the refuge of all.\n The whole world is but a part of Thee,\u00a01\n Unmanifested,\u00a02 primeval, supreme Prak\u1e5bti.\u00a03\n6\nO Dev\u012b! Thou art Sv\u0101h\u0101,\u00a04\n By the utterance whereof all Devas in all sacrifices are satisfied.\n Thou art also declared by men to be Svadh\u0101,\u00a04\n Which satisfies the pit\u1e5bs\u00a05.\n7\nThou, O Dev\u012b! whose great vrata\u00a06 surpasses all thought,\n Art the supreme knowledge full of power\n Which is the cause of liberation\n Ever sought to be gained by those Munis\u00a07 desirous thereof,\n Who have strictly controlled their senses and are free of all faults.\u00a08\n8\nThou art in the form of sound.\n The repository of spotless\u00a01 \u1e5ag\u00a02 and Yajus\u00a02 hymns,\n And of the S\u0101man\u00a02 hymns wherein are the verses of the charmful Udg\u012btha,\u00a03\n Dev\u012b, Thou art the threefold Veda\u00a04 and Bhagavat\u012b;\u00a05\n For the maintenance of the world Thou art the science of Vartta;\u00a06\n Thou art the supreme destroyer of its pains.\u00a07\n9\nO Dev\u012b! Thou art the power of understanding\u00a08\n By Which the essence of all \u015a\u0101stras is known;\n Thou art Durg\u0101,\u00a09 the vessel wherein we cross the dangerous ocean of the world.\n Devoid of attachment art Thou.\u00a010\n \u015ar\u012b\u00a011 also, who hast made Thy abode in the heart of the enemy\u00a012 of Kai\u1e6dabha,\u00a013\nThou art indeed Gaur\u012b, 1 who hast fixed Thy dwelling in the moon-crested Deva. 2\n10\nSmiling spotless like unto the full moon,\n Resplendent as the finest gold\n And lovely was thy face.\n Yet wonderful it was that swayed by wrath\n The Asura Mahi\u1e63a suddenly smote Thy face when he saw it.\n11\nGreatly marvellous indeed it was that when he had seen Thy face,\n Wrathful, terribly frowning, beauteous as the rising moon,\n Mahi\u1e63a did not forthwith yield up his life,\n For who can live after beholding the wrathful king of Death?\u00a03\n12\nO Dev\u012b, our supreme Lady\n Be gracious for the sake of the world.\n For when wrathful Thou dost suddenly destroy the generations of the enemies.\u00a04\n It is but now made known to us\n That the mighty army of the Asura Mahi\u1e63a has met its end.\n13\nThose to whom Thou, O bestower of prosperity! art gracious,\nAre esteemed in all lands,\n Their wealth and fame increases,\n And their dharma, artha, k\u0101ma, mok\u1e63a\u00a01 know no lessening.\n Praiseworthy are they maintaining sons, servants, and wives.\n14\nBy thy grace, O Dev\u012b! the virtuous man, ever honoured,\n Does ever daily all religious acts,\n And thereafter gains heaven by Thy grace;\u00a02\n Therefore art Thou of a surety the giver of fruit in the three worlds.\n15\nO Durg\u0101; the remembrance of Thee destroyest the fear of all creatures,\n When called to recollection by those in health Thou dost bestow a truly good mind.\n O remover of poverty, pain, and fear,\n Who but Thee art ever compassionate for the good of all.\n16\nBy the slaying of these foes the world gains happiness.\n O Dev\u012b! Thou hast slain them with the desire\n That they should not always sin so as to merit hell,\u00a03\n But that by death in battle they may go to Heaven.\n17\nSeeing them, why dost Thou not (by Thy look) turn them to ashes?\n Thou throwest Thy weapon among the enemies, the Asuras,\n In order that, being purified by it,\n Even these enemies may go to heaven.\n Such is Thy merciful intention even towards them.\n18\nIf by the glittering, formidable flashes of Thy sword,\n And by the lustre of Thy spear-point,\n The eyes of the Asuras were not destroyed,\n It was because they gazed on Thy countenance,\n Like unto the radiant moon.\n19\nO Dev\u012b! Thy nature it is to subdue the evil works of the wicked.\n Thy form, destructive of the strength of those who destroy the Devas,\n Surpasses all thought, and is comparable with none.\n By this Thou hast manifested Thy kindness even to enemies.\n20\nDev\u012b! with whom may this Thy valour be compared,\n Or Thy most charming form striking fear among foes?\n In Thee only, bestower of boons, even upon three worlds,\nAre seen both kindness of heart and relentlessness in battle.\n21\nBy the destruction of their foes the three worlds have been saved by Thee,\n Thou hast led even these to heaven,\n Having slain them in the front of battle.\n And hast dispelled the fear besetting us from the maddened enemies of the Devas.\n Salutation to Thee, O Dev\u012b!\n22\nWith Thy spear protect us, O Dev\u012b!\u00a01\n O Mother! protect us with Thy sword.\n By the sound of Thy bell guard us,\n And by the twanging of Thy bow-string\n Protect us in the East and in the West,\n Guard us, O Ca\u1e47\u1e0dik\u0101! in the South,\n And in the North by the brandishing of Thy spear.\n23\nWhatever gentle forms of Thine,\n And whatever of Thy terrible forms Wander in the three worlds,\n By these forms protect us and the earth.\n24\nO Mother! by Thy sword, spear, and club,\nAnd other weapons, in Thy soft and supple hands,\u00a01\n Guard us on every side.\u00a02\n117:1 When the enemies of the Devas were vanquished by the Goddess, Shakra and the other Devas, bowing down before Her, their hair \"erect with exultation,\" thus sang Her praises.\n117:2 Her form was that of their combined powers.\n117:3 Ambika.\n117:4 Great \u1e5a\u1e63is or Seers.\n117:5 Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.\n117:6 \u015aiva, for they, too, adore Her.\n118:1 Buddhi.\n118:2 Enemies of the Devas.\n118:3 Sattva, Tamas, Rajas. Nature as spirit, as the veil of spirit, and of descent and ascent from spirit to matter and matter to spirit (see Introduction to Tantra \u015a\u0101stra).\n118:4 Ordinarily, the world which consists of the gu\u1e47as is imperfect, but She who is it and yet transcends it, is perfect.\n118:5 Vi\u1e63\u1e47u and \u015aiva.\n118:6 As the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Y\u0101mala cited in the \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b, says (M\u0101stvatparamam r\u016bpam tanna j\u0101n\u0101ti kashchana, chap. iii.) \"Her supreme form is that which none know.\"\n119:1 Not as it has been rendered, \"Thou art the entire world which is composed of parts\"--the world is but a part of Her. Hindu belief is not pantheistic in the ordinary European sense of the word.\n119:2 Avy\u0101krita, of which Nagoji Bhatta says: \u1e62advidha vik\u0101rarahitatv\u0101t, on account of its being void of the six forms of change.\n119:3 Of whom the \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b says: \"Pranamya prakritim nity\u0101m param\u0101tma svar\u016bpin\u012bm\" (chap. i.).\n119:4 The Mantra of that name.\n119:5 The lunar ancestors of the human race and the earthly ancestors of the seventh degree, to whom offering is made in pit\u1e5bkriy\u0101.\n119:6 Vow or voluntary rite(see Introduction to Tantra \u015a\u0101stra).\n119:7 Sages.\n119:8 This passage has been rendered: \"Thou studiest with Thy organs, which are the essence of strength well restrained.\" But the Dev\u012b does not study, nor has She organs restrained or otherwise.\n120:1 Because they were breathed out by \u012a\u015bvara.\n120:2 Of the Vedas so named.\n120:3 Part of the S\u0101maveda, the office of the Udg\u0101tri.\n120:5 For She has all powers.\n120:6 i.e., agriculture, cattle-rearing, and trading.\n120:7 As the Lalit\u0101 Sahasran\u0101ma says, \"She soothes like moonlight all those who are burnt by the triple fires of misery\" (t\u0101patraya) of phenomenal existence.\n120:8 Medh\u0101, which Gopal Chakravarti says = Dh\u0101ran\u0101vati buddhi.\n120:9 Nagoji says: \"Duhkhapr\u0101pyatvena durg\u0101si iti uchyate\" (to be attained to with great difficulty).\n120:10 Asang\u0101-nirlep\u0101 (G. C.) cid\u0101nandamayitv\u0101t (on account of Her being cit and \u0101nanda).\n120:11 Lak\u1e63m\u012b.\n120:12 Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.\n120:13 The Daitya brother of Madhu.\n121:1 Daughter of guru, the Lord of the Mountains.\n121:2 \u015aiva, who bears on His head the crescent moon.\n121:3 Yama.\n121:4 That is, the Daityas.\n122:1 The four aims of being.\n122:2 Nagoji Bhatta says tatah here means that after that (svarga), and in order of time they gain mok\u1e63a (liberation).\n122:3 Not \"Let these practise sin so as to descend to Hell for long.\" as it has been rendered. The Dev\u012b's desire is to save even Her foes. The translation of the alternative reading given by the translation referred to is nearer the sense of the text.\n124:1 Here follows the pr\u0101rthait\u0101 (prayer).\n125:1 Literally, leaflike (pallava), soft, and supple.\n125:2 The \u1e5a\u1e63i in Ca\u1e47\u1e0d\u012b continued: Thus was the upholder of the world hymned by the Devas who did worship Her with celestial flowers, perfumes, unguents, and incense upon which the Dev\u012b, highly honoured with this hymn, said to the Devas: \"Choose what ye desire of me\". On which the latter prayed that whenever they called upon Her She might come to their assistance, and that whatever mortal should praise Her with this hymn should prosper. Bhadrak\u0101li said, \"Be it so,\" and vanished from their sight.","title":"Hymns to the Goddess: From Pur\u0101\u1e47a: Ca\u1e47\u1e0dik\u0101, from the Four...","type":"page"}