Prayers by Sukadeva Goswami

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 2: The Cosmic Manifestation

SB 2.4: The Process of Creation

Text 12 - 24

Text 12

śrī-śuka uvāca

namaḥ parasmai puruṣāya bhūyase

sad-udbhava-sthāna-nirodha-līlayā

gṛhīta-śakti-tritayāya dehinām

antarbhavāyānupalakṣya-vartmane

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who, for the creation of the material world, accepts the three modes of nature. He is the complete whole residing within the body of everyone, and His ways are inconceivable.

Text 13

bhūyo namaḥ sad-vṛjina-cchide ’satām

asambhavāyākhila-sattva-mūrtaye

puṁsāṁ punaḥ pāramahaṁsya āśrame

vyavasthitānām anumṛgya-dāśuṣe

I again offer my respectful obeisances unto the form of complete existence and transcendence, who is the liberator of the pious devotees from all distresses and the destroyer of the further advances in atheistic temperament of the nondevotee-demons. For the transcendentalists who are situated in the topmost spiritual perfection, He grants their specific destinations.

Text 14

namo namas te ’stv ṛṣabhāya sātvatāṁ

vidūra-kāṣṭhāya muhuḥ kuyoginām

nirasta-sāmyātiśayena rādhasā

sva-dhāmani brahmaṇi raṁsyate namaḥ

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Him who is the associate of the members of the Yadu dynasty and who is always a problem for the nondevotees. He is the supreme enjoyer of both the material and spiritual worlds, yet He enjoys His own abode in the spiritual sky. There is no one equal to Him because His transcendental opulence is immeasurable.

Text 15

yat-kīrtanaṁ yat-smaraṇaṁ yad-īkṣaṇaṁ

yad-vandanaṁ yac-chravaṇaṁ yad-arhaṇam

lokasya sadyo vidhunoti kalmaṣaṁ

tasmai subhadra-śravase namo namaḥ

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the all-auspicious Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, about whom glorification, remembrances, audience, prayers, hearing and worship can at once cleanse the effects of all sins of the performer.

Text 16

vicakṣaṇā yac-caraṇopasādanāt

saṅgaṁ vyudasyobhayato ’ntar-ātmanaḥ

vindanti hi brahma-gatiṁ gata-klamās

tasmai subhadra-śravase namo namaḥ

Let me offer my respectful obeisances again and again unto the all-auspicious Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The highly intellectual, simply by surrendering unto His lotus feet, are relieved of all attachments to present and future existences and without difficulty progress toward spiritual existence.

Text 17

tapasvino dāna-parā yaśasvino

manasvino mantra-vidaḥ sumaṅgalāḥ

kṣemaṁ na vindanti vinā yad-arpaṇaṁ

tasmai subhadra-śravase namo namaḥ

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the all-auspicious Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa again and again because the great learned sages, the great performers of charity, the great workers of distinction, the great philosophers and mystics, the great chanters of the Vedic hymns and the great followers of Vedic principles cannot achieve any fruitful result without dedication of such great qualities to the service of the Lord.

Text 18

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā

ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ

ye ’nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ

śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.

Text 19

sa eṣa ātmātmavatām adhīśvaras

trayīmayo dharmamayas tapomayaḥ

gata-vyalīkair aja-śaṅkarādibhir

vitarkya-liṅgo bhagavān prasīdatām

He is the Supersoul and the Supreme Lord of all self-realized souls. He is the personification of the Vedas, religious scriptures and austerities. He is worshiped by Lord Brahmā and Śiva and all those who are transcendental to all pretensions. Being so revered with awe and veneration, may that Supreme Absolute be pleased with me.

Text 20

śriyaḥ patir yajña-patiḥ prajā-patir

dhiyāṁ patir loka-patir dharā-patiḥ

patir gatiś cāndhaka-vṛṣṇi-sātvatāṁ

prasīdatāṁ me bhagavān satāṁ patiḥ

May Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the worshipable Lord of all devotees, the protector and glory of all the kings like Andhaka and Vṛṣṇi of the Yadu dynasty, the husband of all goddesses of fortune, the director of all sacrifices and therefore the leader of all living entities, the controller of all intelligence, the proprietor of all planets, spiritual and material, and the supreme incarnation on the earth (the supreme all in all), be merciful upon me.

Text 21

yad-aṅghry-abhidhyāna-samādhi-dhautayā

dhiyānupaśyanti hi tattvam ātmanaḥ

vadanti caitat kavayo yathā-rucaṁ

sa me mukundo bhagavān prasīdatām

It is the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa who gives liberation. By thinking of His lotus feet at every second, following in the footsteps of authorities, the devotee in trance can see the Absolute Truth. The learned mental speculators, however, think of Him according to their whims. May the Lord be pleased with me.

Text 22

pracoditā yena purā sarasvatī

vitanvatājasya satīṁ smṛtiṁ hṛdi

sva-lakṣaṇā prādurabhūt kilāsyataḥ

sa me ṛṣīṇām ṛṣabhaḥ prasīdatām

May the Lord, who in the beginning of the creation amplified the potent knowledge of Brahmā from within his heart and inspired him with full knowledge of creation and of His own Self, and who appeared to be generated from the mouth of Brahmā, be pleased with me.

Text 23

bhūtair mahadbhir ya imāḥ puro vibhur

nirmāya śete yad amūṣu pūruṣaḥ

bhuṅkte guṇān ṣoḍaśa ṣoḍaśātmakaḥ

so ’laṅkṛṣīṣṭa bhagavān vacāṁsi me

May the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who enlivens the materially created bodies of the elements by lying down within the universe, and who in His puruṣa incarnation causes the living being to be subjected to the sixteen divisions of material modes which are his generator, be pleased to decorate my statements.

Text 24

namas tasmai bhagavate

vāsudevāya vedhase

papur jñānam ayaṁ saumyā

yan-mukhāmburuhāsavam

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the incarnation of Vāsudeva who compiled the Vedic scriptures. The pure devotees drink up the nectarean transcendental knowledge dropping from the lotuslike mouth of the Lord.