{"collection":"tantra","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tantra/htg/htg33.htm","path":"tantra/htg/htg33.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tantra/htg/htg33.htm","text":"Hymns to the Goddess, by John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), [1913]\n1\nO Dev\u012b Sure\u015bvar\u012b!\u00a02 O Bhagavat\u012b Gang\u0101!\n Saviour of the three worlds of restless waves,\n Clear is Thy water circling upon the head of \u015aiva\u00a03,\n May my mind ever repose at Thy lotus feet.\n2\nMother Bh\u0101g\u012brath\u012b!\u00a04 giver of happiness,\n Renowned in Nigama\u00a05 is the greatness of Thy water;\n Thy greatness is more than I can know,\n Protect me, O merciful one, ignorant that I am.\n3\nO Gang\u0101! sprung from the feet of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u,\u00a01\n Whose waves are white as snow as moon and pearl,\n Remove from me my weight of sin;\n Help me to cross the ocean of the world.\n4\nThey say that him, O Gang\u0101! who is devoted to Thee\n Yama\u00a02 can never behold.\n He who has drunk of Thy clear water\n Attains of a surety the supreme Abode.\n5\nO J\u0101hnav\u012b! O Gang\u0101! deliverer of the fallen,\u00a03\n Whose waves are beautiful,\n Claving the foremost of mountains,\u00a04\n Mother of Bh\u012b\u1e63ma,\u00a05 daughter of the foremost of munis.\u00a06\n Protectress of the fallen; praised in the three worlds.\u00a07\n6\nO Gang\u0101! who goeth to the ocean,\n Ever free of sadness is he who salutes Thee.\nGiver of fruit like unto the kalpa tree,\u00a01\n By thy favour the woman who looked coldly\n Now casts her loving glances.\u00a02\n7\nHe who bathes in Thy current, O Mother!\n Is never again reborn in woman's womb\n O Protectress from hell! O J\u0101hnavi! O Gang\u0101!\n O Destructress of sins! lofty art Thou by Thy greatness.\n8\nO Thou who art eternal! O wave of purity!\n May Thou, bestower of bliss, refuge of Thy worshippers!\n From whose eyes come glances of compassion.\n Whose feet the lustre of gems on Indra's crown adorn,\n Be ever victorious!\n9\nO Bh\u0101g\u012brath\u012b!\u00a03 dispel my illness, melancholy, and pain,\n As also my sins and all my many follies;\n Essence of the three regions, necklace (on the breast) of Earth,\u00a04\n Of a surety Thou art my refuge in the world.\n10\nO Alakanand\u0101!\u00a01 O supreme Bliss!\u00a02\n O worshipful by those who despair!\n Be Thou merciful.\n He whose abode is by Thy Banks\n Of a verity dwells in Vaiku\u1e47\u1e6dha.\u00a03\n11\nBetter were it to be a fish or tortoise in thy waters,\n Or a feeble lizard upon Thy banks, or a poor dog-eater\u00a04\n Within two kos\u00a05 of Thy stream,\n Than to be a noble king and yet far away from Thee.\n12\nO Bhuvane\u015bvar\u012b!\u00a06 pure one, praised of all,\n Dev\u012b in liquid form,\u00a07 daughter of the foremost of Munis,\u00a08\n He who daily reads this hymn to Gang\u0101\n Is of a surety ever victorious.\n13\nThey who with devotion in their heart to Gang\u0101 (Recite) this hymn\n Composed in the sweet, pleasant, charming pajjhatika metre,\nWhich gives the highest happiness,\n Gain the eternal bliss of liberation.\n14\nA worldly\u00a01 man shall read\u00a02 this hymn to Gang\u0101\n Which\u00a03 is the essence of the world, the giver of desired fruit,\n The essence of all pure things enjoined.\u00a04\n Composed by \u015aankara,\u00a05 the worshipper of \u015aankara.\u00a06\n This hymn is ended.\n207:1 This hymn to the Dev\u012b Ganges, which is in the sweet pajjhatika metre, is also rhymed thus:\n207:2 \u012a\u015bvar\u012b (feminine of \u012a\u015bvara or Lord) of the Suras or Devas.\n207:4 So called because called down from Heaven by Bhag\u012bratha of the solar race.\n207:5 Tantra.\n208:1 Gang\u0101 was born at the feet of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u. So it is said in the mantra used when bathing in the Ganges: \"Vi\u1e63\u1e47up\u0101d\u0101bja sambh\u016bte Gange bhuvanat\u0101rini dharma drav\u012bti\" (the Ganges is dharma in liquid form) \"vikhy\u0101te p\u0101pam me hara J\u0101hnavi.\"\n208:2 Deva of Death.\n208:3 Into sin.\n208:4 The Him\u0101laya.\n208:5 Son of Santanu by Gang\u0101.\n209:1 The tree in the paradise of Indra which granted all desires.\n209:2 Vimukhavanit\u0101kritataral\u0101p\u0101nge.\n209:3 So called after Bhag\u012bratha, who called her down to earth (see p. 188, note 7).\n209:4 Vasudh\u0101h\u0101r\u0101--that is, as a necklace adorns a woman, so the Dev\u012b by the flowing lines of Her stream, adorns the Earth.\n210:1 A river flowing from the Himalaya into the Ganges.\n210:2 Param\u0101nand\u0101, as is the Supreme, whose manifestation She is.\n210:3 The heaven of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u\n210:4 That is, a ca\u1e47\u1e0d\u0101la, one of the lowest and most unclean castes.\n210:5 A kos is two miles.\n210:6 \u012a\u015bvar\u012b, of the world.\n210:7 For the Ganges is the manifestation of the Supreme in the form of the sacred river.\n210:8 Jahnu (see p. 188, note 7).\n211:1 Vi\u1e63aya, which also in a had sense means a sensualist or materialist.\n211:2 Pa\u1e6dhati. Literally, \"reads,\" but used for the vidhiling tense pa\u1e6dhet. Thus in Ca\u1e47\u1e0di it is said: \"Pa\u1e6dhet stotram sam\u0101hitah,\" and in the Vatukastotra, \"Pa\u1e6dhetv\u0101p\u0101\u1e6dhayetv\u0101pi\" (\"should read or have read to him\").\n211:3 That is, the hymn.\n211:4 i.e., forms of worship (p\u016bj\u0101), sacrifice (yajna), etc.\n211:5 That is, \u015aankar\u0101c\u0101rya.\n211:6 \u015aiva.","title":"Hymns to the Goddess: From \u015aankar\u0101c\u0101rya: Gang\u0101 (Gang\u0101stotra)","type":"page"}