{"collection":"tantra","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tantra/htg/htg34.htm","path":"tantra/htg/htg34.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tantra/htg/htg34.htm","text":"Hymns to the Goddess, by John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), [1913]\n1\nO DEV\u012a NARMAD\u0100!\u00a01 I salute thy lotus-like feet,\n Beauteous with the breakers of the heaving waves of ocean,\n With which the drops of Thy waters mingle.\u00a02\n O giver of prosperity! I salute Thy feet bathed in water,\n Which destroys rebirth, the cause of which is sin,\u00a03\n As also all fear at the coming of the messenger of death.\u00a04\n Tvad\u012bya p\u0101da pankajam nam\u0101mi devi narmad\u00e9.\u00a05\n2\nO Dev\u012b Narmad\u0101! I salute Thy lotus feet\n Giver of celestial (blessing) to the lowly fish in Thy waters,\n Foremost of all sacred rivers.\u00a06\nDestructress of the heavy weight of sin of the Kaliyuga,\u00a01\n Giver of welfare to multitude of fine fish, tortoise, alligators, and ruddy geese.\u00a02\n Tvad\u012bya p\u0101da pankajam nam\u0101mi devi narmad\u00e9.\n3\nO Dev\u012b Narmad\u0101! I salute Thy lotus-like feet.\n The overflow from Thy depths washes away the sins of the world.\n Thou destroyest all great sins and the mountain\u00a03 of calamities.\n O giver of happiness to the son of M\u1e5bka\u1e47\u1e0du,\u00a04\n At the fearful moment of the world's dissolution.\n Tvad\u012bya p\u0101da pankajam nam\u0101mi devi narmad\u00e9.\n4\nO Dev\u012b Narmad\u0101! I salute Thy lotus-like feet,\n And Thy waters worshipped by the son of M\u1e5bka\u1e47\u1e0du, \u015aaunaka, and other enemies of the Asuras.\nDestructress of rebirth in the ocean of the world,\u00a01\n Protectress from all worldly pains,\u00a02\n Tvad\u012bya p\u0101da pankajam nam\u0101mi devi narmad\u00e9.\n5\nO Dev\u012b Narmad\u0101! I salute thy lotus-like feet,\n Worshipped by countless lakhs\u00a03 of immortals,\u00a04\n Asuras,\u00a05 Kinnaras,\u00a06 and others,\n Whose banks resound with the fearless song of many lakhs of birds.\u00a07\n Giver of happiness to Va\u015bi\u1e63\u1e6dha, Pipala, Karddama,\u00a08 and other sages,\u00a09\n Tvad\u012bya p\u0101da pankajam nam\u0101mi devi narmad\u00e9.\n6\nO Dev\u012b Narmad\u0101! I salute Thy lotus-like feet,\n Held in the minds of the bees,\u00a010 Sanatkum\u0101ra, Nac\u012bketa,\u00a011 Ka\u015byapa,\nAnd by the bees, Atri, N\u0101rada and other sages.\n Thou who blesseth the work of sun, moon, Rantideva, and Devar\u0101ja,\u00a01\n Tvad\u012bya p\u0101da pankajam nam\u0101mi devi narmad\u00e9.\n7\nO Dev\u012b Narmad\u0101; I salute Thy lotus-like feet,\n Weapon against lakhs of sins known and unknown,\n The Giver of enjoyment and liberation to all beings and animals,\u00a02\n And of happiness to the abode of Virinci,\u00a03 Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, and \u015aiva,\n Tvad\u012bya p\u0101da pankajam nam\u0101mi devi narmad\u00e9.\n8\nO Dev\u012b, Narmad\u0101,! I salute Thy lotus feet.\n How sweet is the sound heard on the banks of Her who has sprung from the hair of \u015aiva\u00a04.\n Destroyer of pain and sin of hunter, and singer\u00a05 of the learned and the fool,\n And of the heat of the submarine fire,\u00a06\nGiver of happiness to all being.\n Tvad\u012bya p\u0101da pankajam nam\u0101mi devi narmad\u00e9.\n9\nWho ever reads but thrice daily this hymn to Narmad\u0101\n Will never fall into misfortune, He will never see Raurava,\u00a01\n He will never be reborn,\n But will reach the glorious abode of \u015aiva,\n So difficult to attain, by this body so easily gained.\u00a02\n212:1 One of the sacred rivers of India, and a form of the Dev\u012b.\n212:2 The ocean is the husband of all rivers.\n212:3 Rebirth is caused by karma.\n212:4 When a man is about to die, a messenger is sent by Yama to take his life.\n212:5 The refrain is translated in the first line.\n212:6 The is stuti (praise). In all sanskrit works the particular Devat\u0101 who is the subject of hymn, meditation or prayer is spoken p. 213 of as the greatest of all. T\u012brtha is not only a place of pilgrimage such as a shrine and the like, but also, according to the Amarako\u015ba, a sacred river.\n213:1 The present or fourth age, marked by the predominance of sin, each of the preceding eras (Dv\u0101para, Tret\u0101, Satya) being more virtuous than the other. In the Kaliyuga era time works evilly.\n213:2 The cakrav\u0101ka bird (by some said to be the Brahmini duck) celebrated in sanskrit poetry for its devotion to its mate. During the night-time the male and female birds call to each other from opposite banks of the stream, as I have heard them do on the reaches of the lonely Malia River in Northern Orissa.\n213:3 D\u0101rit\u0101padacalam.\n213:4 The Mah\u0101muni M\u0101rka\u1e47\u1e0deya.\n214:1 The edition used has punarbhav\u0101bdhi janmajam, but this seems meaningless, and it is read as janmaghnam.\n214:2 Bhav\u0101bdhi dukhha barmad\u00e9. Literally, \"armour given to the pain of the world.\"\n214:3 A lakh is 100,000.\n214:4 Amara--i.e., Devas.\n214:5 Demonic spirits, opponents of the Devas or Suras.\n214:6 A class of spirits (Devayoni).\n214:7 Dh\u012bra--that is because they are undisturbed by men who have become enemies to their brother creation.\n214:8 \u1e5a\u1e63is and munis of that name.\n214:9 \u015ai\u1e63\u1e6da, which means a gentle and learned man who governs himself by his own wisdom, and is not governed by external restraints.\n214:10 The bee hovers on the lotus seeking honey. The sages gather round the feet of the Dev\u012b seeking the wisdom of which She is the embodiment.\n214:11 Munis and \u1e5b\u1e63is.\n215:1 Indra.\n215:2 Both enjoyment and liberation is given to men: to animals enjoyment (bhukti), though they, too, by merit acquired in present birth may attain future birth in human form.\n215:3 Brahm\u0101.\n215:4 Mahe\u015bake\u015baj\u0101tate. As to Gang\u0101, see p. 188, note 7. It is the same and only Dev\u012b who manifests both as Gang\u0101 and Narmad\u0101, and all other rivers and things.\n215:5 Hunting is sinful. The singers are a mixed caste.\n215:6 Kir\u0101tas\u016btav\u0101dave\u1e63u pandita \u015bathe. When the Dak\u1e63ayajna was destroyed by \u015aiva, it changed into a mare (Vadav\u0101). \u015aiva followed, and it plunged into ocean. Fire is produced by it. The \u015aloka says that Her water is so great and pure that it is unaffected by this fire. As regards the rest of this somewhat obscure verse, it means that the Dev\u012b is the remover of the sin of all whoever they may be.\n216:1 One of the great hells.\n216:2 Sulabhya dehadurlabham. Not that it is easy to attain human birth. On the contrary, it is said: \"Naratvam durlabham loke and vidy\u0101tatra sudurlabh\u0101,\" etc. (\"The state of a man is difficult to attain, and still more so that of a wise one,\" cited in Sahitya Darpa\u1e47am, chap. i, by Vi\u015bvan\u0101tha Kavir\u0101ja). What is apparently meant is that, compared with the difficulty of attaining to \u015aiva, the state of humanity is easily attainable.","title":"Hymns to the Goddess: From \u015aankar\u0101c\u0101rya: Narmad\u0101 (Narmad\u0101s\u1e6dakastotram)","type":"page"}