{"collection":"tantra","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tantra/htg/htg31.htm","path":"tantra/htg/htg31.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tantra/htg/htg31.htm","text":"Hymns to the Goddess, by John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), [1913]\n1\nALAS! I know not either Thy mantra\u00a01 or yantra,\u00a02\n Nor how to welcome Thee,\u00a03\n Or how to meditate upon, nor words of prayer to Thee,\n Nor do I know Thy mudr\u0101,\u00a04\nOr how to lay before Thee my griefs;\n But this I know, O Mother!\n That to follow Thee is to remove all my pain.\n2\nBy my ignorance of Thy commands.\n By my poverty\u00a01 and sloth,\n I had not the power to do that which I should have done,\n Hence my omission to worship Thy feet.\n But, O Mother! auspicious Deliverer of all.\n All this should be forgiven,\n For a bad son may sometimes be born, but a bad mother never.\u00a02\n3\nO Mother! Thou hast many worthy sons on earth,\n But I, your son, am of no worth;\n Yet it is not meet that Thou should\u2019st abandon me,\n For a bad son may sometimes be born, but a bad mother never.\n4\nO Mother of the world, O Mother!\n I have not worshipped Thy feet,\n Nor have I given abundant wealth to Thee;\n Yet the affection which Thou bestoweth on me is without compare,\n For a bad son may sometimes be born, but a bad mother never.\n5\nI have abandoned the worship of other Devas\nBecause of the variety and confusion of the injunctions relating to their worship.\n I am no more than eighty-five years of age,\u00a01\n If Thou will not bestow Thy kindness on me,\n What shelter have I without Thy support,\n O Mother of the big-bellied Deva!\u00a02\n6\nPrayer, sweet as the sweet melon\n Makes even a dog-eater\u00a03 perfect;\n Even a beggar walks without fear\n With crores\u00a04 of gold pieces.\n O Apar\u1e47\u0101!\u00a05 this is the fruit of Thy mantra entering their ears.\n Who can say, O Mother!\n The fruit which is born of the recitation\u00a06 of Thy mantra?\n7\nHe who is besmeared with the ashes of the funeral pyre,\u00a07\n He who swallowed poison,\u00a08\nWho is clothed with space,\u00a01\n With matted hair, garlanded with the Lord of Serpents,\n The Lord of men,\u00a02\n The Lord of Ghosts\u00a03 holding a skull in His hands.\n Owes his great states as Lord of the World\n To his acceptance of Thee as His Spouse, O Bhav\u0101n\u012b!\u00a04\n8\nNo desire have I for liberation, Nor have I desire for wealth, Nor wish for knowledge,\n O Moon-faced One! neither have I wish for happiness!\n But this only I beg of Thee,\n That my life may pass in the recitation of these words:\n Mrid\u0101n\u012b,\u00a05 Rudr\u0101\u1e47\u012b,\u00a06 \u015aiva, \u015aiv\u00e9, Bhav\u0101n\u012b.\u00a04\n9\nI have not according to the injunctions laid down therefor\nWorshipped Thee with the various articles\u00a01 of worship.\n What is there which I have not wrongly done or omitted in my meditations on the Brahman?\n O Dark One!\u00a02 it will be but fitting on Thy part\n If Thou bestoweth not kindness on me, helpless though I am.\n10\nO Durg\u0101,\u00a03 our Lady! O Ocean of mercy!\n When overwhelmed by danger\u00a04 I remember Thee.\n Think not, however, this to be deceit on my part,\n For children afflicted by hunger and thirst ever remember their mother.\n11\nO Mother of the world! 5\nIt is nothing wonderful if Thou art full of compassion for me;\n A mother does not abandon her son\n Even if he have an hundred faults.\n12\nThere is no such great sinner like me,\n There is no such destroyer of sin as Thou.\n Now, Mah\u0101dev\u012b, you have heard what I have to say,\n It remains for Thee to do what may seem fitting to Thee.\n195:1 \u015aabda is Brahman, and mantra the manifestation thereof. From manana arises realization of the monistic truth. Man of mantra comes from the first syllable of manana, and tra from tr\u0101na, or liberation from the bondage of the sams\u0101ra. That is called mantra which calls forth (\u0101mantrana) the caturvarga, and which is the svar\u016bpa of Devat\u0101. (See Introduction to Tantra \u015a\u0101stra and the Chapter on Mantra Tattva in Principles of Tantra.)\n195:2 Ibid., The T\u0101ntrik diagram which is worshipped in lieu of the image (pratim\u0101). The G\u0101yatr\u012b Yantra is figured on the cover of this work. Mantra is Devat\u0101, and yantra is mantra, in that it is the body of the Devat\u0101, who is mantra.\n\"The substance of yantra is mantra. Devat\u0101 is mantra. As there is a distinction between body and \u0101tm\u0101, so there is between yantra and Devat\u0101.\"\n195:3 By the \u0101v\u0101hana mantra, always said in worship of the pratim\u0101.\n195:4 Ritual gesture, it being said; Dev\u0101n\u0101m modad\u0101 mudr\u0101 tasm\u0101tt\u0101m yatn\u0101t\u015bcaret (see Introduction to Tantra \u015a\u0101stra)\"--\"Mudr\u0101 is giver of pleasure to Devas, therefore it should be done with care.\"\n196:1 Want of means to perform the proper worship.\n196:2 A celebrated line; Kuputtro j\u0101yet\u0101 kvacidapi kum\u0101t\u0101 nabhavati.\n197:1 How is this stated if the hymn be the work of \u015aankar\u0101c\u0101rya, to whom it is attributed, for he is said to have died at the early age of thirty-two?\n197:2 Lambodarajanan\u012b. The Deva is the elephant-headed Gane\u015ba.\n197:3 That is, a low caste such as the Ca\u1e47\u1e0d\u0101la, who eats any filth.\n197:4 A crore is 100 lakhs; a lakh is 100,000.\n197:6 That is, japa, which is only recitation (in English) in its lowest form, the highest form being mental (m\u0101nasa) only. Japa, which is defined as vidh\u0101nen\u0101 mantroccara\u1e47am, is either v\u0101caka, up\u0101mshu, or m\u0101nas\u0101 (see Tantras\u0101ra, 75 et seq.).\n197:7 \u015aiva, to whom the rest of the attributes in this verse refer.\n198:1 \u015aiva is represented naked, as the Yogins, of whom He is the Master, ever are.\n198:2 Pa\u015bupati. Pa\u015bu literally means animal, but men are also pas.\n198:3 Bh\u016bte\u015ba, \u015aiva is surrounded by hosts of spirits.\n198:4 See p. 180, note 1.\n198:5 Mrida is a title of the s\u0101ttvika \u015aiva. She is His Spouse.\n198:6 Dev\u012b is the Spouse of the countless \u015aivas called Rudras, in whom the tamoguna prevails. The dark (tamas) energy, called Raudr\u012b, is said to be C\u0101mu\u1e47\u1e0d\u0101.\n199:1 Upac\u0101ra. There are sixteen such, called the sho\u1e0da\u015ba p\u016bj\u0101 upac\u0101ra--viz., (1) \u0101sanam (seat); (2) sv\u0101gatam (welcome); (3) p\u0101dyam (water for feet) (4) Argyam (offering of water, durva grass, rice, etc.); (5) and (6) \u0101caman\u012byam; (water for sipping; twice); (7) madhuparka (honey, ghee, milk); (8) sn\u0101nam (bathing); (9) vasanam (cloth); (10) \u0101bharanam (jewels); (11) gandha (scent, sandal paste, etc.); (12) pu\u1e63pa (flowers); (13) d\u016bpa (incense), (14) d\u012bpa (lights); (15) naivedyam (food); (16) vandanam or namask\u0101ra (prayer).\n199:2 \u015ay\u0101m\u0101.\n199:3 A great name of the Dev\u012b. The Dev\u012b Pur\u0101\u1e47a says that She is so called because the Devas were delivered from fear in difficulty and battle; hence She is deliverer (Durg\u0101). The M\u0101rka\u1e47\u1e0deya Pur\u0101\u1e47a and the Lak\u1e63m\u012b Tantra in the Pancar\u0101tra says: \"In this place I shall kill a great Daitya (Titan) named Durgama. Hence my name shall be Durg\u0101.\"\n199:4 The M\u0101rka\u1e47\u1e0deya Pur\u0101\u1e47a says: When Thou art remembered in times of difficulty, Thou takest away all fear of all things.\"\n199:5 Jagadamb\u0101.","title":"Hymns to the Goddess: From \u015aankar\u0101c\u0101rya: ''May the Devi Grant Me Pardon'' (Devi Apar\u0101da K\u1e63am\u0101pana Stotra)","type":"page"}