Dedicated to Sri Sarada Devi

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"Holy Mother" painted by Swami Tadatmananda

Used courtesy of the Vedanta Society of Southern California

http://www.vedanta.org




Dedicated to Sri Sarada Devi
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A "thought" for today

Disciple: You have so many children (initiated disciples), Do you remember all of them?

Mother: No, I do not remember everyone of them.

Disciple: Then, how can you say that you do spiritual practices, for all?

Mother: I tell beads for all those whose names I can recall. And for those whom I cannot remember, I pray to the Master saying, "Thakur, I have so many children in various places. I cannot remember the names of many of them. You kindly look after them. Kindly look after their well-being."

The Gospel of The Holy Mother - Section II (22) -(RECORDED BY RECORDED BY INDU BHUSHAN SENGUPTA): Page 326-327

Location: New Bern

Re: A "thought" for today

So it is.

With regards,

Ankur

Location: New Delhi

Re: A "thought" for today

Ambāstotram: Hymn to the Divine Mother
by Swami Vivekananda
By SM | Published: JULY 23, 2009
This beau­ti­ful hymn to the Divine Mother was com­posed in San­skrit by Swami Vivek­ana­nda. The trans­la­tion is by Swami Ashokananda.


॥ अम्बास्तोत्रम्‌॥
का त्वं शुभे शिवकरे सुखदुःखहस्ते
आघूर्णितं भवजलं प्रबलोर्मिभङ्गैः।
शांतिं विधातुमिह किं बहुधा विभग्नाम्‌
मतः प्रयत्नपरमासि सदैव विश्वे॥१॥
सम्पादयत्यविरतं त्वविरामवृत्ता
या वै स्थिता कृतफलं त्वकृतस्य नेत्री।
सा मे भवत्वनुदिनं वरदा भवानी
जानाम्यहं ध्रुवमिदं धृतकर्मपाशा॥२॥
को वा धर्मः किमकृतं कः कपाललेखः
किंवादृष्ट फलमिहास्ति हि यां विना भोः।
इच्छापाशैर्नियमिता नियमाः स्वतन्त्रैः
यस्या नेत्री भवतु सा शरणं ममाद्या॥३॥
सन्तानयन्ति जलधिं जनिमृत्युजालं
सम्भावयन्त्यविकृतं विकृतं विभग्नम्‌।
यस्या विभूतय इहामितशक्तिपालाः
नाश्रित्य तां वद कुतः शरणं व्रजामः॥४॥
मित्रे शत्रौ त्वविषमं तव पद्मनेत्रम्‌
स्वस्थे दुःस्थे त्ववितथं तव हस्तपातः।
मृत्युच्छाया तव दया त्वमृतञ्च मातः
मा मां मुञ्चन्तु परमे शुभदृष्टयस्ते॥५॥
क्वाम्बा सर्वा क्व गृणनं मम हीनबुद्धेः
धत्तुं दोर्भ्यामिव मतिर्जगदेकधात्रीम्‌।
श्रीसञ्चिन्त्यं सुचरणमभयपतिष्ठं
सेवासारैरभिनुतं शरणं प्रपद्ये॥६॥
या मामाजन्म विनयत्यतिदुःखमार्गैः
आसंसिद्धेः स्वकलितैर्ललितैर्विलासैः।
या मे बुद्धिं सुविदधे सततं धरण्यां
साम्बा सर्वा मम गतिः सफलेऽफले वा॥७॥
|| ambās­to­tram ||
kā tvaṁ śubhe śivakare sukhaduḥkhahaste
āghūrṇitaṁ bhava­jalaṁ prabalormibhaṅgaiḥ |
śāṁtiṁ vid­hā­tu­miha kiṁ bahudhā vib­hag­nām
mataḥ pray­at­na­paramāsi sadaiva viśve ||1||
sam­pā­day­atyavi­rataṁ tvavirāmavṛttā
yā vai sthitā kṛtaphalaṁ tvakṛtasya netrī |
sā me bha­vat­vanud­inaṁ varadā bhavānī
jānāmyahaṁ dhru­vamidaṁ dhṛtakarmapāśā ||2||
ko vā dharmaḥ kimakṛtaṁ kaḥ kapālalekhaḥ
kiṁvādṛṣṭa pha­la­mi­hāsti hi yāṁ vinā bhoḥ |
icchāpāśairniyamitā niyamāḥ svatantraiḥ
yasyā netrī bha­vatu sā śaraṇaṁ mamādyā ||3||
san­tā­nayanti jal­adhiṁ janimṛtyujālaṁ
sambhāvayantyavikṛtaṁ vikṛtaṁ vib­hag­nam |
yasyā vib­hū­taya ihāmi­taśak­tipālāḥ
nāśritya tāṁ vada kutaḥ śaraṇaṁ vra­jāmaḥ ||4||
mitre śatrau tvaviṣamaṁ tava pad­mane­tram
svas­the duḥsthe tvav­i­tathaṁ tava hastapātaḥ |
mṛtyucchāyā tava dayā tvamṛtañca mātaḥ
mā māṁ muñ­cantu parame śubhadṛṣṭayaste ||5||
kvāmbā sarvā kva gṛṇanaṁ mama hīnabud­dheḥ
dhattuṁ dorb­hyāmiva matir­ja­gadekad­hātrīm |
śrīsañcintyaṁ sucaraṇamabhayapatiṣṭhaṁ
sevāsārairab­hin­utaṁ śaraṇaṁ pra­padye ||6||
yā māmā­janma vinayatyatiduḥkhamārgaiḥ
āsaṁsiddheḥ svakali­tair­lal­i­tairvilā­saiḥ |
yā me bud­dhiṁ suvi­dadhe satataṁ dharaṇyāṁ
sāmbā sarvā mama gatiḥ saphale’phale vā ||7||

A Hymn to the Mother
by Swami Vivek­ana­nda
(trans­lated from the Sanskrit)

O beau­ti­ful, aus­pi­cious One, hold­ing in Thy hands plea­sure and pain—
  who art Thou?
The waters of exis­tence are whirled to mighty burst­ing waves—
Is it, O Mother, to restore the shat­tered calm
That Thou art cease­lessly active in the universe?

To friend and foe Thy lotus eyes are even;
On for­tu­nate and unfor­tu­nate Thou layest Thy hand alike;
Death­less­ness and the shadow of death are equally Thy mercy.
O Mother, O supreme One, may Thy gra­cious glances never for­sake me!

May She, whose action knows no respite,
Who con­stantly brings about the fruit of actions done, and shapes actions yet to be,
May She always bestow Her bless­ings upon me!
She it is, I know cer­tainly, who holds the ropes of karma.

With­out Her, where is virtue, where vice?
Where is destiny—“the writ­ing on the fore­head”?
With­out Her, where is action, where the fruit of action?
May She, the cords of whose sov­er­eign will con­trol all laws,
May She, the Pri­mal One, shel­ter me ever­last­ingly!
Oh, where shall I find refuge save in Her,
  whose glo­ries man­i­fest in the uni­verse in pow­ers immea­sur­able,
Whose pow­ers swell the ocean of birth and death
And trans­form the immutable into the chang­ing and divided?

How infi­nitely great is the Mother, and how inad­e­quate the praise I sing of Her—
  I, so poor of under­stand­ing!
It is as if I desired to seize with my hands the sole Sus­tainer of the uni­verse!
So, at Her blessed feet, the abode of fear­less­ness,
Med­i­tated on by the very god­dess of grace and glory,
Adored by those devoted to Her service—I take refuge.

Whether I suc­ceed or fail,
She, who has ever inspired my under­stand­ing on the earth,
Who, devis­ing sweet play­ful ways, has led me, since by birth,
Along the most painful paths to Per­fec­tion—
She, the Mother, the All, is my refuge.

from The Voice of India, pub­lished by the
Vedanta Soci­ety of North­ern Cal­i­for­nia in the 1940s.

http://vedantadc.org/ambastotram

Location: New Delhi

Re: A "thought" for today

Very beautiful devotional hymn, Ankur. Never forget the Holy Mother. Thank you for sharing.

Your Sister,
Rosemary

Location: New Bern