{"collection":"tantra","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tantra/htg/htg32.htm","path":"tantra/htg/htg32.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tantra/htg/htg32.htm","text":"Hymns to the Goddess, by John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), [1913]\n1\nIt was on Thy bank, O Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101!\u00a01\n That Hari and Hara, givers of s\u0101yujya mukti,\u00a02\n Disputed together at the departure festival\u00a03 of a certain one.\n Hari\u00a04 said, \"Let Him be like unto me;\"\n Whereon forthwith from within the body\n Came forth \u015aiva mounted on Garuda,\u00a05\nIn yellow garment, 1 with the mark of Bhrigu's foot on His breast. 2\n2\nIndra and the Thirty,\u00a03 at the close of their period of enjoyment,\u00a04'\n Descend to earth again,\u00a05\n And are reborn as men, or even as beast, bird, or worm;\n But those, O Mother Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101! who plunge into thy waters,\n Are freed from sins, and indeed in S\u0101yujya\u00a06 man becomes\n N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a \u00a07 himself, with crown and Kaustubha gem.\u00a08\n3\nK\u0101\u015bi\u00a01 is of all cities the most praiseworthy,\n For it is the city of vimukti\u00a02 adorned with Gang\u0101.\n There Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101 is the giver of happiness,\n And Mukti itself is Her servant.\u00a03\n When Brahm\u0101 weighed Heaven with its Devas against K\u0101\u015bi,\n K\u0101\u015bi, as the heavier, remained on earth,\n But Heaven, the lighter, rose to the skies.\n4\nNought is better than any part of the banks of Gang\u0101,\n But there, where K\u0101\u015bi is, is the best,\n And Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101, where \u012a\u015bvara gives mukti, is the best of all.\n This place, inaccessible even to Devas,\n Destroys a mass of sins.\n Through many virtues acquired in previous births\n Alone may it be attained, and by the pure only.\n5\nThe multitude of being is immersed in the ocean of pain,\n How may they gain release?\n It was with this knowledge that Brahm\u0101 constructed the city of V\u0101r\u0101na\u015b\u012b,\u00a04 which gives all bliss.\nMen seek the happiness of Heaven.\n But in so doing they but show small desire,\n Since from Heaven they must fall again to earth\n At the close of their appointed time of happiness.\u00a01\n But K\u0101\u015b\u012b is the city of liberation,\u00a02\n Ever beneficent, giving dharma, artha, k\u0101ma, and mok\u1e63a.\u00a03\n6\nHe who holds the bamboo flute,\u00a04 upholder of the mountain,\u00a05\n Who bears on his breast the \u015ar\u012bvatsa\u00a06 mark,\n And \u015aiva, with venom in His throat,\u00a07\n Who bears Gang\u0101 upon his head,\u00a08\n And the husband of Lak\u1e63m\u012b,\u00a09\n Are one and the same.\u00a010\n Many of such, O Mother Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101!\n As bathe in Thy waters become Rudras and Haris.\u00a011\nHow, then, can there be any difference between them? 1\n7\nDeath upon Thy Banks, which is the giver of happiness,\n Is praised even by the Devas.\n On him who thus dies \u015aakra\u00a02 ever looks with His thousand eyes.\n S\u0101vitri\u00a03 of a thousand rays welcomes Him as He ascends (to the heavens).\n Such a pure one, mounted on a Bull or on Garuda,\u00a04\n May go to whatsoever abode he will.\n8\nEven the four-headed Deva,\u00a05\n The Guru who initiates into the meaning of the Veda,\n Is unable even in an hundred of his\u00a06 years\n To describe the purity which arises upon bathing at midday in Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101.\n But the Deva who bears the moon upon his forehead,\u00a07\n By the power of his yoga knows Thy purity.\n \u015aiva makes that man who dies on Thy Bank\n Either Himself or N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a.\nAll such sin-destroying fruit as is earned by millions of troublesome horse-sacrifices\u00a01\n Exists in the purity which comes from bathing in Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101.\n He, who having bathed therein,\n Reads this hymn, goes to the abode of the light of Brahman,\n Having crossed the great ocean of this world\n As if it were but some little pool.\n201:1 Is the name of a celebrated ghat at Benares, where the bodies of the dead are burnt, and at which the gem of the ear ornament of the Dev\u012b fell. The K\u0101\u015bipanchakastotra of \u015aankara says that where there is niv\u1e5btti of manas, there is the great peace. That peace is the foremost of t\u012brthas (here rivers) and Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101 (Manoniv\u1e5btti paramopa\u015b\u0101ntih s\u0101 t\u012brthavary\u0101 ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101ca).\n201:2 One of the forms of qualified mukti (liberation); the four muktis are S\u0101lokya (remaining in the same region with the Deva), S\u0101m\u012bpya (remaining near the Deva), S\u0101rupya (receiving the same form as the Deva), and Sayujya (becoming one with the Deva).\n201:3 Pray\u0101\u1e47otsava--that is, death.\n201:4 Vi\u1e63\u1e47u\n201:5 The Bird King, who is the vehicle (v\u0101hana) of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, son of Ka\u015byapa by his wife Vinet\u0101, elder brother of Aru\u1e47a.\n202:1 The colour of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u's robes. The verse is intended to show the unity of both Vi\u1e63\u1e47u and \u015aiva.\n202:2 The \u1e5a\u1e63is once disputed amongst themselves as to the relative merits of Brahm\u0101, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, and \u015aiva, and the \u1e5a\u1e63\u012b Bhrigu was sent to test them. The first and last on being purposely slighted by Bhrigu showed the weakness of resentment. Finding Vi\u1e63\u1e47u lying down with Lak\u1e63m\u012b in the daytime he upbraided him for this and planted with force his foot on his chest. Vi\u1e63\u1e47u not only took all this in good part, but rubbing the foot of Bhrigu expressed the hope that the latter had not hurt it by his action. On this exhibition of divine quality the palm was adjudged to Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, who thereafter bore the mark of Bhrigu's foot on his breast.\n202:3 Trida\u015bah, a collective name for the other Devas. The thirty-three (three being understood) ga\u1e47as of Devas, of which the Dev\u012b is Trida\u015be\u015bvar\u012b.\n202:4 In heaven (Svarga).\n202:5 For the enjoyment in Svarga, which is part of the worlds of birth and rebirth, is not eternal, but on fruition the jiv\u0101tm\u0101 again descends to earth to work out its unexhausted karma.\n202:6 S\u0101yujyepi. As to s\u0101yujya, see ante, p. 201, note 2.\n202:7 Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.\n202:8 A great and brilliant gem worn by Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.\n203:1 Benares.\n203:2 Nirv\u0101\u1e47\u0101mok\u1e63a, the highest form of Mukti (liberation). As the saying goes: \"Ayodhy\u0101, Mathur\u0101, Gay\u0101, K\u0101\u015bi, K\u0101nci, Avantik\u0101, Pur\u012b, these seven t\u012brthas (places of pilgrimage) give mukti, but K\u0101\u015b\u012b (Benares) gives nirv\u0101\u1e47a mukti.\"\n203:3 As the servant awaits the orders of his mistress, so mukti (liberation) awaits the command of Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101.\n203:4 Benares.\n204:2 Mukti (see p. 203, note 2).\n204:3 Piety, wealth, fulfilment of desire, and liberation.\n204:4 K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, who is often so figured.\n204:5 Mount Govardhana, which K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, by his might, upheld.\n204:6 Curls of hair on the breast of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.\n204:7 At the churning of the ocean, poison issued which, to save the world, \u015aiva swallowed. It coloured His throat blue; hence he is called N\u012blakantha.\n204:8 The River Ganges (see p. 188, note 7).\n204:9 Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.\n204:10 They with Brahm\u0101; for as the Rudray\u0101mala says \"Though three they are one\" (Ekam murtistrayo deva). All the Devas and Dev\u012bs are but manifestations, with the apparent limitations incident thereto, of the Supreme Unity--the Brahman.\n204:11 \u015aiva and Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.\n205:1 That is, they cease to differ from one another, having become Hari and Hara, who are themselves one.\n205:2 Indra, king of the celestials.\n205:3 The sun (S\u016brya).\n205:4 The first is the vehicle (V\u0101hana) of \u015aiva. The second, the carrier of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u.\n205:5 Brahm\u0101.\n205:6 Not human years.\n205:7 \u015aiva.\n206:1 The Vaidika A\u015bvamedha.","title":"Hymns to the Goddess: From \u015aankar\u0101c\u0101rya: Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101 (Ma\u1e47ikar\u1e47ik\u0101stotra)","type":"page"}