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"Holy Mother" painted by Swami Tadatmananda
Used courtesy of the Vedanta Society of Southern California
O Mother, I throw myself on Thy mercy;
I take shelter at Thy Hallowed Feet.
I do not want bodily comforts;
I do not crave name and fame;
I do not seek the eight occult powers.
Be gracious and grant that I may have pure love for Thee,
A love unsmitten by desire, untainted by any selfish ends—
A love craved by the devotee for the sake of love alone.
And grant me the favour, O Mother,
That I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching maya,
That I may never be attached to the world,
To ‘lust and gold’, conjured up by Thy inscrutable maya!
O Mother, there is no one but Thee whom I may call my own.
Mother, I do not know how to worship;
I am without austerity;
I have neither devotion nor knowledge.
Be gracious, Mother, and out of Thy infinite mercy,
Grant me love for Thy Lotus Feet.
From The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p 731.
http://vedantadc.org/sri-ramakrishna%E2%80%99s-prayer
This is the hymn to Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother, written by Swami Abhedananda. It sung at many centers of the Ramakrishna Order, as the fourth hymn of the evening prayer.
प्रकृतिं परमामभयां वरदां नररूपधरां जनतापहराम्।
शरणागतसेवकतोषकरीं प्रणमामि परां जननीं जगताम्॥
गुणहीनसुतानपराधयुतान् कृपयाद्य समुद्धर मोहगतान्।
तरणीं भवसागरपारकरीं प्रणमामि परां जननीं जगताम्॥
विषयं कुसुमं परिहृत्य सदा चरणाम्बुरुहामृतशान्तिसुधाम्।
पिब भृङ्गमनो भवरोगहरां प्रणमामि परां जननीं जगताम्॥
कृपां कुरु महादेवि सुतेषु प्रणतेषु च।
चरणाश्रयदानेन कृपामयि नमोऽस्तु ते॥
लज्जापटावृते नित्यं सारदे ज्ञानदायिके।
पापेभ्यो नः सदा रक्ष कृपामयि नमोऽस्तु ते॥
रामकृष्णगतप्राणां तन्नामश्रवणप्रियाम्।
तद्भावरञ्जिताकारां प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः॥
पवित्रं चरितं यस्याः पवित्रं हीवनं तथा।
पवित्रतास्वरूपिण्यै तस्यै कुर्मो नमो नमः॥
देवीं प्रसन्नां प्रणतार्तिहन्त्रीं योगीन्द्रपूज्यां युगधर्मपात्रीम्।
तां सारदां भक्तिविज्ञानदात्रीं दयास्वरूपां प्रणमामि नित्यम्॥
स्नेहेन बध्नासि मनोऽस्मदीयं दोषानशेषान् सगुणीकरोषि।
अहेतुना नो दयसे सदोषान् स्वाङ्के गृहीत्वा यदिदं विचित्रम्॥
प्रसीद मातर्विनयेन याचे नित्यं भव स्नेहवती सुतेषु।
प्रेमैकबिन्दुं चिरदग्धचित्ते विषिञ्च चित्तं कुरु नः सुशान्तम्॥
जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम्।
पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः॥
prakṛtiṁ paramāmabhayāṁ varadāṁ
nararūpadharāṁ janatāpaharām |
śaraṇāgatasevakatoṣakarīṁ
praṇamāmi parāṁ jananīṁ jagatām ||
guṇahīnasutānaparādhayutān
kṛpayādya samuddhara mohagatān |
taraṇīṁ bhavasāgarapārakarīṁ
praṇamāmi parāṁ jananīṁ jagatām ||
viṣayaṁ kusumaṁ parihṛtya sadā
caraṇāmburuhāmṛtaśāntisudhām|
piba bhṛṅgamano bhavarogaharāṁ
praṇamāmi parāṁ jananīṁ jagatām ||
kṛpāṁ kuru mahādevi suteṣu praṇateṣu ca |
caraṇāśrayadānena kṛpāmayi namo’stu te ||
lajjāpaṭāvṛte nityaṁ sārade jñānadāyike |
pāpebhyo naḥ sadā rakṣa kṛpāmayi namo’stu te ||
rāmakṛṣṇagataprāṇāṁ tannāmaśravaṇapriyām |
tadbhāvarañjitākārāṁ praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ ||
pavitraṁ caritaṁ yasyāḥ pavitraṁ jīvanaṁ tathā |
pavitratāsvarūpiṇyai tasyai kurmo namo namaḥ ||
devīṁ prasannāṁ praṇatārtihantrīṁ
yogīndrapūjyāṁ yugadharmapātrīm |
tāṁ sāradāṁ bhaktivijñānadātrīṁ
dayāsvarūpāṁ praṇamāmi nityam ||
snehena badhnāsi mano’smadīyaṁ
doṣānaśeṣān saguṇīkaroṣi |
ahetunā no dayase sadoṣān
svāṅke gṛhītvā yadidaṁ vicitram ||
prasīda mātarvinayena yāce
nityaṁ bhava snehavatī suteṣu |
premaikabinduṁ ciradagdhacitte
viṣiñca cittaṁ kuru naḥ suśāntam ||
jananīṁ sāradāṁ devīṁ rāmakṛṣṇaṁ jagadgurum |
pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ ||
Translation
To the Divine Shakti embodied in human form, the giver of boons and dispeller of fear, who quenches the fire of misery and fills with joy the hearts of those who take refuge in Her; to Thee my salutations, O Supreme Being, O Mother of the worlds!
Redeem Thy children, bestowing Thy mercy, full of faults, deluded, and without merit as we are! A veritable ship ferrying us across the ocean of Samsara art Thou;
To Thee my salutations, O Supreme Being, O Mother of the worlds!
Abandoning the flowers of worldly enjoyment, always drink, O honeybee of my mind, the nectar of eternal peace at the lotus of Mother’s feet—the sure panacea for the disease of worldliness. To Thee my salutations, O Supreme Being, O Mother of the worlds!
Bestow Thy grace, O great Divinity, on us Thy children, bowing in prostration before Thee, and grant us shelter at Thy feet, O Compassionate One. To Thee our salutations!
Though ever covered with the veil of modesty, Thou, O Mother Sarada, art really the Power that bestows spiritual illumination on human beings. Protect us from sins evermore, O grace embodied! To Thee our salutations!
To Her whose life is fused into one with Ramakrishna’s, whose delight consists in absorption in thought and talk of His glory, whose personality is soaked and suffused with His spirit; to Her our salutations!
To Her whose nature is sanctity, to Her whose life is sanctity, to Her who is the very embodiment of sanctity; to Her I bow down, again and again!
To the gracious Mother Sarada, the embodiment of mercy and the granter of devotion and knowledge, to Her who is worshipped by the chief of yogis, to Her who (with Sri Ramakrishna) has given a new revelation for the present age, and who assuages the miseries of devotees taking refuge at Her feet; to her do I ever bow down in worship.
Binding our mind to Thee with the bonds of Thy love, Thou does transmute our very vices into virtues. Compassionate as Thou art without any consideration of merit, Thou dost, lo! Take even unworthy ones into Thy lap!
Mother, be propitious and grant what I in humility beseech. May Thou be ever affectionate to us, Thy children; and casting even a drop of Thy love on our long-parched heart, render it cool and peaceful.
Taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Mother, Sarada Devi, and Ramakrishna, the teacher of the world, I salute them again and again.
Location: New Delhi