Special Poetry: Sri Sri Damodara Astakam | Sri Gaudiya Gitanjali

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SRI GAUDIYA GITANJALI : SPECIAL POETRY

Sri Sri Damodara Astakam

(To be chanted throughout the Kartik month and niyom-seva observance)

namamisvaram sach-chid-ananda-rupam
lasat-kundalam gokule bhrajamanam
yasoda-bhiyolukhalad dhavamanam
paramrstam atyam tato drutya gopya [1]

I am offering my obeisance to the eternal, all-cognisant and blissful Supreme Lord, who wears shining earrings, who is resplendent in His eternal abode, Gokula, and who runs away from a mortar in fear of His Mother Yasoda but is then outsmarted and caught roughly by her.

rudantam muhur netra-yugmam mrjantam
karambhoja-yugmena satanka-netram
muhuh svasa-kampa-trirekhanka-kantha
sthita-graiva-damodaram bhakti-baddham [2]

I am offering my obeisance to Lord Damodar (who was tied around His belly with a rope of devotion), who is crying bitterly and wiping His fearful eyes with His lotus hands. He is sobbing again and again, which makes the necklace on His chubby neck (adorned with three sweet lines) shake.

itidrk sva-lilabhir ananda-kunde
sva-ghosam nimajjantam akhyapayantam
tadiyesita-jnesu bhaktair jitatvam
punah prematas tam satavrtti vande [3]

He immerses His associates into an ocean of bliss by the sight of His pastimes and makes it known among the scholars who know His absolute supremacy that He becomes subjugated by His devotees. Hundreds of times I am offering with love my obeisances to this Lord.

varam deva! moksam na moksavadhim va
na chanyam vrne ’ham varesad apiha
idan te vapur natha! gopala-balam
sada me manasy avirastam kim anyaih [4]

O Greatest Lord, although You can bestow any benediction in this world, I do not wish for ordinary liberation or the highest liberation, or anything else. My Lord, may Your beauty as a young cowherd boy always appear in my mind. What is the use of any other benediction?

idan te mukhambhojam avyakta-nilair
vrtam kuntalaih snigdha-raktais cha gopya
muhus chumbitam bimba-raktadharam me
manasy avirastam alam laksa-labhaih [5]

Your dark-bluish lotus face is framed by beautiful locks of hair and bears reddish marks of affection left after the kisses gopis plant on You with their scarlet lips. May this image always appear in my mind; it is truly worth thousands of benedictions.

namo deva! damodarananta! visno!
prasida prabho! duhkha-jalabdhi-magnam
krpa-drsti-vrstyati-dinam batanu-
grhanesa! mam ajnamedhy-aksi drsyah [6]

Obeisances, O Lord! O Damodar! O Ananta! O Vishnu! Be gracious, O Master! I am drowning in an ocean of misery. O merciful Lord, please shower this wretch with Your merciful glance! Please appear before the eyes of this ignorant fool.

kuveratmajau baddha-murttyaiva yadvat
tvaya mochitau bhakti-bhajau krtau cha
tatha prema-bhaktim svakam me prayachchha
na mokse graho me ’sti damodareha [7]

O Lord Damodar, just as You liberated the two sons of Kuver (Manigriv and Nalakuvar) from their bondage, please liberate me by bestowing devotion to You. But please give me pure loving devotion to You, not liberation.

namas te ’stu damne sphurad-dipti-dhamne
tvadiyodarayatha visvasya dhamne
namo radhikayai tvadiya-priyayai
namo ’nanta-lilaya devaya tubhyam [8]

I offer my obeisances to the rope, an abode of gleaming lustre, tied around Your belly, an abode of the entire universe. Obeisances to Your beloved Sri Radhika. Obeisances to You, O Lord of unlimited pastimes!

SRI GAUDIYA GITANJALI (English)
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