“If you practice spiritual discipline for some time in a solitary place, you will find that your mind has become strong, and then you can live in any place or society without being in the least affected by it. When the plant is tender, it should be hedged around. But when it has grown big, not even cows and goats can injure it. Spiritual practices in a solitary place are essential.”
Bande Mataram Hymn
Translation by Sri Aurobindo
Mother, I bow to thee
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving, Mother of might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease,
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother, I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.
Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands,
When the swords flash out in twice seventy million hands
And seventy millions voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,
To thee I call, Mother and Lord!
Thou who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foemen drave
Back from plain and sea
And shook herself free.
Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou our heart, our soul, our breath,
Thou the love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nerves the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine.
Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother, lend thine ear.
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Dark of hue, O candid-fair
In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Loveliest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,
Mother great and free.
O' Mother, here is Your ignorance, here is Your knowledge
Take them both and give me only pure love for You.
Here is Your holiness, here is Your unholiness
Take them both and give me only pure love for You.
Here is Your virtue, and here is Your sin
Here is Your good and here is Your evil
Take them both and give me only pure love for You.
Here is Your dharma, here is Your adharma;
Take them both and give me only pure love for You.
-Sri Ramakrishna
Hymn to the Divine Mother
O thou the giver of all blessings,
O thou the doer of all good,
O thou the fulfiller of all desires,
O thou the giver of refuge –
Our salutations to thee, O Mother Divine.
O thou Eternal Mother,
Thou hast the power to create, to preserve, and to dissolve.
Thou the dwelling-place and embodiment of the three gunas –
Our salutations to thee, O Mother Divine.
O thou the savior of all who take refuge in thee,
The lowly and the distressed –
O Mother Divine, we salute thee,
Who takest away the sufferings of all.
-Chandi
Hymn is taken from the Chandi, a sacred book which sings the praise of the Divine Mother.
Translation by Swami Prabhavananda & Christopher Isherwood, from Prayers and Meditations
Translation by Swami Prabhavananda & Christopher Isherwood, from Prayers and Meditations
If Not For You
If not for you, there would be a place of emptiness in the heart of the Divine.
If not for you, all the good that you have done would still need doing.
If not for you, the spark of your ideas would not have ignited the flame in others.
If not for you, the key role that you have played in life’s drama would remain unfulfilled.
If not for you, at least one person would not have awakened to their dreams.
If not for you, your triumphs could not be examples to inspire others.
If not for you, someone who needed love would not have received it.
If not for you, a life would have been shortened or never existed.
If not for you, the song of life would have missed a beat.
If not for you, your gifts would remain un-given.
If not for you, another might have suffered in your place.
If not for you, someone would have no path to follow.
If not for you, there would be one less smile, one less laugh, and one less hug.
If not for you, an animal might be homeless and a garden left unplanted.
If not for you, something would be missing.
You have always made a difference.
Who you are is important every day.
You are the face, the heart and the soul of the Divine.
Never forget: You make a difference and you are valuable.
Sri Sarada Stotram
Hymn to Holy Mother
Hymn to Holy Mother
by Swami Abhedananda
prakrtiṁ paramāṁ abhayāṁ varadām,
nararupa-dharāṁ janatāpa-harām
saran-āgata sevaka-toshakariṁ,
pranamāmi parāṁ jananiṁ jagatām.
gunahina-sutanaparādha-yutān,
kripāyādya samuddhara moha-gatān
taraniṁ bhava-sāgara pārakariṁ,
pranamāmi parāṁ jananiṁ jagatām.
vishayaṁ kusumaṁ parihritya sadā,
caran-āmbu-ruhāmrita śānti-sudhām
piba bhringa-mano bhavaroga-harāṁ,
pranamāmi parāṁ jananiṁ jagatam.
krpāṁ kuru mahādevi suteshu pranateshu ca
caran-āśraya dānena kripā-mayi namo'stu te.
lajjā-patāvrite nityāṁ sārade jnāna-dāyike
papebhyo nah sada raksha kripā-mayi namo'stu te.
rāmakrishna-gata prānāṁ tannāma-shravana-priyām
tadbhāva-ranjit-ākāraṁ pranamāmi muhurmuhuh.
pavitraṁ charitaṁ yasyāh pavitraṁ jivanam tathā
pavitratā-svarupinyai tasyai kurmo namo-namah.
devim prasannāṁ pranatārti-hantrim,
Yogindra-pujyām yugadharma-pātrim
tam śāradām bhakti-vijnāna-dātriṁ,
dayā-svarupām pranamāmi nityam.
snehena badhnāsi mano'smadiyāṁ,
doshān-aseshān saguni-karoshi
ahetunā no dayase sadoshān,
svaṁke grihitva yadidaṁ vicitram.
prasida mātar vinayena yāce,
nityaṁ bhava snehavati suteshu
premaika binduṁ ciradagdha-chitte,
visiñca cittaṁ kuru nah suśantam.
jananiṁ śāradāṁ deviṁ rāmakrishnaṁ jagadgurum |
pādapadme tayoh shrtvā pranamāmi muhurmuhuh ||
jai! mahāmāyi ki jai!
jai bhagavān sri rāmakrisna dev ki jai
jai swāmiji mahāraj ji ki jai!
