Prathana

THE GOVINDA PRAYER

FROM THE SRI BRAHMA SAMHITA

isvara? parama? k???a?
saccitananda vigraha?
anadir adir govinda?
sarva-kara?a-kara?am
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

Supreme Lord Krishna, Govinda,
the One whose body is consciousness,
existence and eternity. He is the origin of all,
and has no origin. He is the cause of all causes.

cintama?i-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-v?k?a
lak?av?te?u surabhir abhipalayantam
lak?mi sahasra-sata sambhrama-sevyamana?
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, the first
progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding
all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems,
surrounded by millions of trees, always served
with great reverence and affection by hundreds of
thousands of Lakshmis or gopis.

ve?u? kva?antam aravinda-dalayatak?a?
barhavata?sam asitambuda-sundara?gam
kandarpa ko?i-kamaniya vise?a-sobha?
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is
adept in playing on His flute, with blooming
eyes like lotus petals, with a head bedecked with
peacock feathers, with the figure of beauty tinged
with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique
loveliness charming millions of cupids.

alola candraka-lasad vanamalya-va?si
ratna?gada? pra?aya keli-kala vilasam
syama? tri-bha?ga-lalita? niyata-prakasa?
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, round
whose neck is swinging a garland of flowers
beautified with the moon-locket. Whose two
hands are adorned with the flute and jeweled
ornaments, who always revels in pastimes of
love, whose graceful threefold-bending form of
Shyamasundara is eternally manifest.

a?gani yasya sakalendriya-v?ttimanti
pasyanti panti kalayanti cira? jaganti
ananda-cinmaya sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, whose
transcendental form is full of bliss, truth,
substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling
splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental
figure possesses the full-fledged functions of all
the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and
manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and
mundane.

advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam
adya? pura?a-puru?a? nava-yauvana? ca
vede?u durlabham adurlabham atma-bhaktau
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is
inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure
unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a
second, who is not subject to decay, is without
a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the
beginning and the eternal Purusha; yet He is a
person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.

panthas tu ko?i-sata-vatsara sampragamyo
vayor athapi manaso muni-pu?gavanam
so 'py asti yat-prapada-simny avicintya-tattve
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, only the tip
of the toe of His Lotus Feet are approached by
the yogis who aspire after the transcendental and
betake themselves to pranayama by repeating
the respiration; or by the jnanis who try to find out
the non-differentiated Brahman by the process
of elimination of the mundane, extending over
thousands of millions of years.

eko 'py asau racayitu? jagad-a??a-ko?i?
yac-chaktir asti jagad-a??a-caya yad-anta?
a??antara-stha-parama?u-cayantara-stham
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no
distinction between potency and the Possessor
thereof. In His work of creation of millions of
worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the
universes exist in Him and He is present in His
fullness in everyone of the atoms that are scattered
throughout the universe, at one and the same time.
Such is the Primeval Lord whom I adore.

yad bhava-bhavita-dhiyo manujas tathaiva
samprapya rupa mahimasana-yana-bhu?a?
suktair yam eva nigama-prathitai? stuvanti
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I adore the same Govinda, the Primeval Lord, in
whose praise men, who are imbued with devotion,
sing the mantra-suktas told by the Vedas, by gaining
their appropriate beauty, greatness, thrones,
conveyances and ornaments.

ananda-cinmaya-rasa pratibhavitabhis
tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhi?
goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, residing in
His own realm, Goloka, with Radha, resembling His
own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic
potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities,
in the company of Her confidantes, embodiments
of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated
and vitalised by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.

premañjana cchurita bhakti vilocanena
santa? sadaiva h?daye?u vilokayanti
ya? syamasundaram acintya-gu?a-svarupa?
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is
Shyamasundara, Krishna Himself with inconceivable
innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees
see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion
tinged with the salve of Love.

ramadi-murti?u kala-niyamena ti??han
nanavataram akarod bhuvane?u kintu
k???a? svaya? samabhavat parama? puman yo
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who
manifested Himself personally as Krishna and the
different avatars in the world in the forms of Rama,
Nrsimha, Vamana, etc., as His subjective portions.

yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-a??a-ko?i
ko?i?vase?a vasudhadi vibhuti-bhinnam
tad brahma ni?kalam anantam ase?a-bhuta?
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, whose
effulgence is the source of the non-differentiated
Brahman mentioned in the Upanishads, being
differentiated from the infinity of glories of the
mundane universe appears as the indivisible,
infinite, limitless truth.

maya hi yasya jagad-a??a-satani sute
traigu?ya-tad-vi?aya-veda-vitayamana
sattvavalambi para-sattva visuddha-sattva?
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is the
Absolute Substantive Principle being the ultimate
entity in the form of the support of all existence
whose external potency embodies the threefold
mundane qualities [sattva, rajas and tamas] and
diffuses the Vedic knowledge regarding the
mundane world.

ananda-cinmaya rasatmataya mana?su
ya? pra?ina? pratiphalan smaratam upetya
lilayitena bhuvanani jayaty-ajasra?
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, whose glory
ever triumphantly dominates the mundane world by
the activity of His own pastimes, being reflected in
the mind of recollecting souls as the transcendental
entity of the ever-blissful cognitive rasa.

goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya
devi mahesa-hari-dhamasu te?u te?u
te te prabhava-nicaya vihitas ca yena
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

Lowest of all is located Devi-dhama [mundane
world]; next above it is Mahesha-dhama [abode
of Mahesha]; above Mahesha-dhama is placed
Hari-dhama [abode of Hari]; above them all is
located Krishna's own realm named Goloka.
I adore the Primeval Lord Govinda, who has
allotted their respective authorities to the rulers of
those graded realms.

s?s??i-sthiti pralaya-sadhana saktir eka
chayeva yasya bhuvanani vibharti durga
icchanurupam api yasya ca ce??ate sa
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

The external potency Maya who is of the nature of
the shadow of the full potency, is worshipped by
all people as Durga, the creating, preserving and
destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore
the Primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with
whose will Durga conducts Herself.

k?ira? yatha dadhi vikara-vise?a-yogat
sañjayate na hi tata? p?thag asti heto?
ya? sambhutam api tatha samupaiti karyad
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

Just as milk is transformed into yoghurt by the
action of acids, but yet the effect curd is neither
same as, nor different from its cause (milk), so
I adore the Primeval Lord Govinda of whom
the state of Sambhu is a transformation for the
performance of the work of destruction.

diparcir eva hi dasantaram abhyupetya
dipayate viv?ta-hetu-samana-dharma
yas tad?g eva hi ca vi??utaya vibhati
govindam adi-puru?a? tam aha? bhajami (2)

The light of one candle being communicated
to other candles, although it burns separately
in them, is the same in its quality. I adore the
Primeval Lord Govinda...