Prayers By Wifes Of Kaliya

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 10: The Summum Bonum

Chapter 16: Kṛṣṇa Chastises the Serpent Kāliya

Text 33 - 53

Text 33

nāga-patnya ūcuḥ

nyāyyo hi daṇḍaḥ kṛta-kilbiṣe ’smiṁs

tavāvatāraḥ khala-nigrahāya

ripoḥ sutānām api tulya-dṛṣṭir

dhatse damaṁ phalam evānuśaṁsan

The wives of the Kāliya serpent said: The punishment this offender has been subjected to is certainly just. After all, You have incarnated within this world to curb down envious and cruel persons. You are so impartial that You look equally upon Your enemies and Your own sons, for when You impose a punishment on a living being You know it to be for his ultimate benefit.

Text 34

anugraho ’yaṁ bhavataḥ kṛto hi no

daṇḍo ’satāṁ te khalu kalmaṣāpahaḥ

yad dandaśūkatvam amuṣya dehinaḥ

krodho ’pi te ’nugraha eva sammataḥ

What You have done here is actually mercy for us, since the punishment You give to the wicked certainly drives away all their contamination. Indeed, because this conditioned soul, our husband, is so sinful that he has assumed the body of a serpent, Your anger toward him is obviously to be understood as Your mercy.

Text 35

tapaḥ sutaptaṁ kim anena pūrvaṁ

nirasta-mānena ca māna-dena

dharmo ’tha vā sarva-janānukampayā

yato bhavāṁs tuṣyati sarva-jīvaḥ

Did our husband carefully perform austerities in a previous life, with his mind free of pride and full of respect for others? Is that why You are pleased with him? Or did he in some previous existence carefully execute religious duties with compassion for all living beings, and is that why You, the life of all living beings, are now satisfied with him?

Text 36

kasyānubhāvo ’sya na deva vidmahe

tavāṅghri-reṇu-sparaśādhikāraḥ

yad-vāñchayā śrīr lalanācarat tapo

vihāya kāmān su-ciraṁ dhṛta-vratā

O Lord, we do not know how the serpent Kāliya has attained this great opportunity of being touched by the dust of Your lotus feet. For this end, the goddess of fortune performed austerities for centuries, giving up all other desires and observing austere vows.

Text 37

na nāka-pṛṣṭhaṁ na ca sārva-bhaumaṁ

na pārameṣṭhyaṁ na rasādhipatyam

na yoga-siddhīr apunar-bhavaṁ vā

vāñchanti yat-pāda-rajaḥ-prapannāḥ

Those who have attained the dust of Your lotus feet never hanker for the kingship of heaven, limitless sovereignty, the position of Brahmā or rulership over the earth. They are not interested even in the perfections of yoga or in liberation itself.

Text 38

tad eṣa nāthāpa durāpam anyais

tamo-janiḥ krodha-vaśo ’py ahīśaḥ

saṁsāra-cakre bhramataḥ śarīriṇo

yad-icchataḥ syād vibhavaḥ samakṣaḥ

O Lord, although this Kāliya, the king of the serpents, has taken birth in the mode of ignorance and is controlled by anger, he has achieved that which is difficult for others to achieve. Embodied souls, who are full of desires and are thus wandering in the cycle of birth and death, can have all benedictions manifested before their eyes simply by receiving the dust of Your lotus feet.

Text 39

namas tubhyaṁ bhagavate

puruṣāya mahātmane

bhūtāvāsāya bhūtāya

parāya paramātmane

We offer our obeisances unto You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although present in the hearts of all living beings as the Supersoul, You are all-pervasive. Although the original shelter of all created material elements, You exist prior to their creation. And although the cause of everything, You are transcendental to all material cause and effect, being the Supreme Soul.

Text 40

jñāna-vijñāna-nīdhaye

brahmaṇe ’nanta-śaktaye

aguṇāyāvikārāya

namas te prākṛtāya ca

Obeisances unto You, the Absolute Truth, who are the reservoir of all transcendental consciousness and potency and the possessor of unlimited energies. Although completely free of material qualities and transformations, You are the prime mover of material nature.

Text 41

kālāya kāla-nābhāya

kālāvayava-sākṣiṇe

viśvāya tad-upadraṣṭre

tat-kartre viśva-hetave

Obeisances unto You, who are time itself, the shelter of time and the witness of time in all its phases. You are the universe, and also its separate observer. You are its creator, and also the totality of all its causes.

Text 42-43

bhūta-mātrendriya-prāṇa-

mano-buddhy-āśayātmane

tri-guṇenābhimānena

gūḍha-svātmānubhūtaye

namo ’nantāya sūkṣmāya

kūṭa-sthāya vipaścite

nānā-vādānurodhāya

vācya-vācaka-śaktaye

Obeisances unto You, who are the ultimate soul of the physical elements, of the subtle basis of perception, of the senses, of the vital air of life, and of the mind, intelligence and consciousness. By Your arrangement the infinitesimal spirit souls falsely identify with the three modes of material nature, and their perception of their own true self thus becomes clouded. We offer our obeisances unto You, the unlimited Supreme Lord, the supremely subtle one, the omniscient Personality of Godhead, who are always fixed in unchanging transcendence, who sanction the opposing views of different philosophies, and who are the power upholding expressed ideas and the words that express them.

Text 44

namaḥ pramāṇa-mūlāya

kavaye śāstra-yonaye

pravṛttāya nivṛttāya

nigamāya namo namaḥ

We offer our obeisances again and again to You, who are the basis of all authoritative evidence, who are the author and ultimate source of the revealed scriptures, and who have manifested Yourself in those Vedic literatures encouraging sense gratification as well as in those encouraging renunciation of the material world.

Text 45

namaḥ kṛṣṇāya rāmāya

vasudeva-sutāya ca

pradyumnāyāniruddhāya

sātvatāṁ pataye namaḥ

We offer our obeisances to Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Rāma, the sons of Vasudeva, and to Lord Pradyumna and Lord Aniruddha. We offer our respectful obeisances unto the master of all the saintly devotees of Viṣṇu.

Text 46

namo guṇa-pradīpāya

guṇātma-cchādanāya ca

guṇa-vṛtty-upalakṣyāya

guṇa-draṣṭre sva-saṁvide

Obeisances to You, O Lord, who manifest varieties of material and spiritual qualities. You disguise Yourself with the material qualities, and yet the functioning of those same material qualities ultimately reveals Your existence. You stand apart from the material qualities as a witness and can be fully known only by Your devotees.

Text 47

avyākṛta-vihārāya

sarva-vyākṛta-siddhaye

hṛṣīkeśa namas te ’stu

munaye mauna-śīline

O Lord Hṛṣīkeśa, master of the senses, please let us offer our obeisances unto You, whose pastimes are inconceivably glorious. Your existence can be inferred from the necessity for a creator and revealer of all cosmic manifestations. But although Your devotees can understand You in this way, to the nondevotees You remain silent, absorbed in self-satisfaction.

Text 48

parāvara-gati-jñāya

sarvādhyakṣāya te namaḥ

aviśvāya ca viśvāya

tad-draṣṭre ’sya ca hetave

Obeisances unto You, who know the destination of all things, superior and inferior, and who are the presiding regulator of all that be. You are distinct from the universal creation, and yet You are the basis upon which the illusion of material creation evolves, and also the witness of this illusion. Indeed, You are the root cause of the entire world.

Text 49

tvaṁ hy asya janma-sthiti-saṁyamān vibho

guṇair anīho ’kṛta-kāla-śakti-dhṛk

tat-tat-svabhāvān pratibodhayan sataḥ

samīkṣayāmogha-vihāra īhase

O almighty Lord, although You have no reason to become involved in material activity, still You act through Your eternal potency of time to arrange for the creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe. You do this by awakening the distinct functions of each of the modes of nature, which before the creation lie dormant. Simply by Your glance You perfectly execute all these activities of cosmic control in a sporting mood.

Text 50

asyaiva te ’mūs tanavas tri-lokyāṁ

śāntā aśāntā uta mūḍha-yonayaḥ

śāntāḥ priyās te hy adhunāvituṁ satāṁ

sthātuś ca te dharma-parīpsayehataḥ

Therefore all material bodies throughout the three worlds — those that are peaceful, in the mode of goodness; those that are agitated, in the mode of passion; and those that are foolish, in the mode of ignorance — all are Your creations. Still, those living entities whose bodies are in the mode of goodness are especially dear to You, and it is to maintain them and protect their religious principles that You are now present on the earth.

Text 51

aparādhaḥ sakṛd bhartrā

soḍhavyaḥ sva-prajā-kṛtaḥ

kṣantum arhasi śāntātman

mūḍhasya tvām ajānataḥ

At least once, a master should tolerate an offense committed by his child or subject. O supreme peaceful Soul, You should therefore forgive our foolish husband, who did not understand who You are.

Text 52

anugṛhṇīṣva bhagavan

prāṇāṁs tyajati pannagaḥ

strīṇāṁ naḥ sādhu-śocyānāṁ

patiḥ prāṇaḥ pradīyatām

O Supreme Lord, please be merciful. It is proper for the saintly to feel compassion for women like us. This serpent is about to give up his life. Please give us back our husband, who is our life and soul.

Text 53

vidhehi te kiṅkarīṇām

anuṣṭheyaṁ tavājñayā

yac-chraddhayānutiṣṭhan vai

mucyate sarvato bhayāt

Now please tell us, Your maidservants, what we should do. Certainly anyone who faithfully executes Your order is automatically freed from all fear.