श्रीश्रीदामोदराष्टकम्
Śrī Śrī Dāmodarāṣṭakam

Eight verses in praise of Dāmodara

By Satyavrata Muni

Excerpted from Padma Purāṇa and cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 16.199–206.

नमामीश्वरं सच्चिदानन्दरूपं
लसत्कुण्डलं गोकुले भ्राजमानम् ।
यशोदाभियोलूखलाद्धावमानं
परामृष्टमत्यन्ततो दूत्य गोप्या ॥१॥

namāmīśvaraṁ sac-cid-ānanda-rūpaṁ
lasat-kuṇḍalaṁ gokule bhrājamānam |
yaśodā-bhiyolūkhalād dhāvamānaṁ
parāmṛṣṭam atyantato drutya gopyā ||1||

I offer obeisance unto Īśvara, the embodiment of eternal, spiritual bliss, who is shining in Gokula with earrings swaying as he runs from a mortar in fear of Yaśodā and is caught from behind by the much faster running gopī.

Commentary

According to the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, ‘Īśvara’ refers to he who is omnipotent, the sole Lord of the universe, and my [i.e., the author’s] personal master.

रुदन्तं मुहुर्नेत्रयुग्मं मृजन्तं
कराम्भोजयुग्मेन सातङ्कनेत्रम् ।
मुहुः श्वासकंपत्रिरेखाङ्ककण्ठ-
स्थित-ग्रैव-दामोदरं भक्तिवद्धम् ॥१॥

rudantaṁ muhur netra-yugmaṁ mṛjantaṁ
karāmbhoja-yugmena sātaṅka-netram
muhuḥ śvāsa-kampa-trirekhāṅka-kaṇṭha-
sthita-graiva-dāmodaraṁ bhakti-baddham [2]

Crying, repeatedly rubbing his eyes with his lotus hands, his eyes fearful, a necklace fixed around his thrice marked, panting and trembling neck, and a rope around his belly, he is bound by bhakti.

इतीदृक्स्वलीलाभिरानन्दकुण्डे
स्वघोषं निमज्जन्तमाख्यापयन्तम् ।
तदीयेषितज्ञेषु भक्तैर्जितत्वं
पुनः प्रेमतस्तं शतावृत्ति वन्दे॥३॥

itīdṛk svalīlābhir ānanda-kuṇḍe
svaghoṣaṁ nimajjantam ākhyāpayantam |
tadīyeṣita-jñeṣu bhaktair jitatvaṁ
punaḥ prematas taṁ śatāvṛtti vande ||3 ||

With such līlās of his as this, he submerges his companions [i.e., all the residents of Gokula] in a lake of bliss and proclaims to those who know [only] his aiśvarya that he is conquered by bhaktas. Out of prema, I again offer obeisance to him hundreds of times.

वरं देव मोक्षं न मोक्षावधिं वा
न चान्यं वृणेऽहं वरेशादपीह ।
इदन्ते वपुर्नाथ गोपालबालं
सदा मे मनस्याविरास्तां किमन्यैः ॥४॥

varaṁ deva mokṣaṁ na mokṣāvadhiṁ vā
na cānyaṁ vṛṇe’haṁ vareśād apīha |
idan te vapur nātha gopāla-bālaṁ
sadā me manasy āvirāstāṁ kim anyaiḥ ||4||

O Deva! I desire neither the boon of mokṣa [in general], nor the ultimate limit of mokṣa, nor anything else even from you, the bestower of all boons. O Nātha! May this cowherd boy form of yours here [i.e., in Śrī Vṛndāvana] always be manifest in my heart. What need is there for anything else?

Commentary

According to the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā, ‘O Deva’ means ‘O you of supreme effulgence!’ (he parama-dyotamāna), or ‘O you who are absorbed in extraordinarily sweet play!’ (he madhura-krīḍā-viśeṣa-para). ‘The ultimate limit of mokṣa’ (mokṣāvadhiṁ) refers to residence in Śrī Vaikuṇṭhaloka, which is filled with intense bliss, and ‘anything else’ (cānyaṁ) refers to the limbs of bhakti that manifest the atmosphere of Vaikuṇṭha even in the midst of Naraka and elsewhere, and are thus considered superior to even residence in Vaikuṇṭha itself. ‘What need is there for anything else?’ (kim anyaiḥ) implies that because your form here in Vṛndāvana is consitututed of the supreme bliss, by receiving this form of yours in my heart, nothing more remains to be attained, and thus I pray neither for mokṣa, nor residence in Vaikuṇṭha, nor engagement in formal practices of bhakti, but rather only to have superlative prīti for this most beautiful form of yours ever manifest in my heart and no such prīti for anything otherwise, including even other forms of yourself.

इदन्ते मुखाम्भोजमव्तक्तनीलै-
र्वृतं कुन्तलैः स्निग्धरक्त्रैश्च गोप्या ।
मुहुश्चुम्बितं बिम्बरक्ताधरं मे
मनस्याविरास्तामलं लक्षलाभैः ॥५॥

idan te mukhāmbhojam avyakta-nīlair
vṛtaṁ kuntalaiḥ snigdha-raktaiś ca gopyā |
muhuś cumbitaṁ bimba-raktādharaṁ me
manasy āvirāstām alaṁ lakṣa-lābhaiḥ ||5||

May this lotus face of yours, surrounded by your deep black, glossy and reddened hair, and your bimba red lips kissed repeatedly by the gopī [i.e., Yaśodā, or, Rādhā] be manifest within my heart [even once]. Away with thousands of [other] attainments [i.e., I have no desire or need for any of them, since darśana of you is everything to me].

नमो देव दामोदरानन्त विष्णो
प्रसीद प्रभो दुःखजालाब्धिमग्नम् ।
कृपादृष्टिवृष्ट्यातिदीनं वतानु-
गृहाणेश मामज्ञमेध्यक्षिदृश्यः ॥६॥

namo deva dāmodarānanta viṣṇo
prasīda prabho duḥkha-jālābdhi-magnaṁ |
kṛpā-dṛṣṭi-vṛṣṭyātidīnaṁ batānu-
gṛhāṇeśa mām ajñam edhy akṣi-dṛśyaḥ ||6||

Obeisance [unto you], O Deva! O Dāmodara! O Ananta! O Viṣṇu! O Prabhu! With a shower of the grace of your glance, please favor me, who am submerged in an ocean of successive sorrows, greatly distressed, and unwise! O Īśa! Please become visible to my eyes!

Commentary

According to the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā, the object of the author’s obeisance, namely, ‘you’ [i.e., Bhagavān] has to be supplied and was not stated directly in the text either because of fear, reverence, and the like, or because of bewilderment arising from prema. ‘O Deva!’ means ‘O you of divine form! (he divya-rūpa). ‘O Dāmodara!’ means ‘O you who are bound about the belly with a rope!’ and implies ‘O you who are most befitting of direct darśana by virtue of your special affection for your bhaktas! ‘O Ananta!’ implies, ‘O you who are endless by virtue of your affection for your bhaktas! ‘O Viṣṇu’ means ‘O you who are all-pervading!’ and can imply, ‘O you who enter the nikuñjas, caves, and so forth throughout Śrī Vṛndāvana!’ ‘O Prabhu!’ implies, ‘O you who are possessed of inconceivable and inexhaustible astonishing capability and thus able to appear to me anywhere even though you are imperceptible to my senses!’ ‘O Īśa!’ implies, ‘O you who are supremely independent and can bestow grace even upon the undeserving!’ Being ‘submerged in an ocean of successive sorrows’ refers to those of saṁsāra, or, those produced by seeing them,’ and being ‘greatly distressed,’ that is, filled with extreme heartache, is a result of this, or it alludes to being completely destitute on account of lacking any reliable assistance and means to relieve such sorrows. Being ‘unwise’ refers to having no knowledge of any means to remedy these sorrows. ‘Favor me with a shower of the glance of your grace’ is a prayer to be rescued from the ocean of saṁsāra and revitalized.

कुबेरात्मजौ बद्धमुर्त्त्यैव यद्वत्
त्वया मोचितौ भक्तिभाजौ कृतौ च ।
तथा प्रेमभक्तिं स्वकां मे प्रयच्छ
न मोक्षेऽग्रहो मेऽस्ति दामोदरेह ॥७॥

kuverātmajau baddha-mūrtyaiva yadvat
tvayā mocitau bhakti-bhājau kṛtau ca |
tathā prema-bhaktiṁ svakāṁ me prayaccha
na mokṣe graho me’sti dāmodareha ||7||

As you liberated the two sons of Kuvera [from Nārada’s curse, and saṁsāra itself] and endowed them with bhakti even while your body was bound [to the mortar by Mother Yaśodā], so please grant me prema-bhakti to yourself here [i.e., in Śrī Vṛndāvana, even though I too am offensive and undeserving]. I have no interest in liberation [since everything apart from prema-bhakti to you is trifling], O Dāmodara!

नमस्तेऽसु दाम्ने स्फुरद्दीप्तधाम्ने
त्वदीयोदरायाथ विश्वस्य धाम्ने।
नमो राधिकायै त्वदीयप्रियायै
नमोऽनन्तलीलाय देवाय तुभ्यम् ॥८॥

namas te’stu dāmne sphurad-dīpti-dhāmne
tvadīyodarāyātha viśvasya dhāmne |
namo rādhikāyai tvadīya-priyāyai
namo’nanta-līlāya devāya tubhyam ||8||

Let my obeisance be offered to the bright, splendorous rope [by which you are bound] and then to your belly, the shelter of the universe. Let my obeisance be offered to Rādhikā, your beloved, and let my obeisance be offered to you, Deva, whose līlās are endless.

Source

Hari-bhakti-vilāsa editions by Hari Dāsa Śāstrī Navatīrtha and Kānāilāla Adhikārī Pañcatīrtha.

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