श्रीवृन्दावनाष्टकम्
Śrī Vṛndāvanāṣṭakam
Eight verses in praise of Śrī Vṛndāvana
By Śrīmad Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura
श्रीवृन्दावनाय नमः।
śrī-vṛndāvanāya namaḥ |
Obeisance unto Śrī Vṛndāvana.
न योगसिद्धिर्न ममास्तु मोक्षो
वैकुण्ठलोकेऽपि न पार्षदत्वम् ।
प्रेमापि न स्यादिति चेत्तरां तु
ममास्तु वृन्दावन एव वासः ॥१॥
na yoga-siddhir na mamāstu mokṣo
vaikuṇṭhaloke’pi na pārṣadatvam |
premāpi na syād iti cet tarāṁ tu
mamāstu vṛndāvana eva vāsaḥ ||1||
Let me attain
Neither yoga-siddhis,
Nor mokṣa,
Nor associateship [of Bhagavān] even in Vaikuṇṭhaloka.
[And] If even prema cannot be had,
Then better still—
May my residence be only in Vṛndāvana.
Commentary: “Better still” implies that the author considers residing in Vṛndāvana superior to attaining yoga-siddhis, mokṣa, and associateship of Bhagavān in Vaikuṇṭha, as residing in Vṛndāvana is highly conducive to attaining Kṛṣṇa-prema..
तार्णं जनुर्यत्र विधिर्ययाचे
सद्भक्तचूडामणिरुद्धवोऽपि ।
वीक्ष्यैव माधुर्यधुरां तदस्मि-
न्ममास्तु वृन्दावन एव वासः ॥२॥
tārṇaṁ janur yatra vidhir yayāce
sad-bhakta-cūḍāmaṇir uddhavo’pi |
vīkṣyaiva mādhurya-dhurāṁ tad asmin
mamāstu vṛndāvana eva vāsaḥ ||2||
Where Brahmā,
And even Uddhava,
The crest-jewel of exalted bhaktas,
Prayed for a birth as a blade of grass,
After verily beholding
The abundance of mellifluousness herein—
May my residence be only in Vṛndāvana.
Commentary: Brahmā’s prayer is as follows:
tad bhūri-bhāgyam iha janma kim apy aṭavyāṁ
yad gokule’pi katamāṅghri-rajo’bhiṣekam |
yaj-jīvitaṁ tu nikhilaṁ bhagavān mukundas
tv adyāpi yat-pada-rajaḥ śruti-mṛgyam eva ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatām: 10.14.34)
“Let me attain the great fortune of receiving any birth at all [i.e., even that of a blade of grass] here in this forest [i.e., Vṛndāvana], or in Gokula, and being bathed in the foot-dust of those whose entire life is Bhagavān Mukunda, the dust of whose feet still today is to be sought after by the Śrutis.”
Uddhava’s prayer is as follows:
āsām aho caraṇa-reṇu-juṣām ahaṁ syāṁ
vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām |
yā dustyajaṁ svajanam ārya-pathañ ca hitvā
bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.47.61)
“Aho! Let me attain any birth at all amongst the shrubs and vines in Vṛndāvana that are touched by the foot-dust of they who have given up their relatives and the path of nobility, which are difficult to renounce, and followed Mukunda’s footpath, which is to be sought after by the Śrutis.”
किं ते कृतं हन्त तपः क्षितीति
गोप्योऽपि भूमेः स्तुवते स्म कीर्तिम् ।
येनैव कृष्णाङ्घ्रिपदाङ्कितेऽस्मि-
न्ममास्तु वृन्दावन एव वासः ॥३॥
kiṁ te kṛtaṁ hanta tapaḥ kṣitīti
gopyo’pi bhūmeḥ stuvate sma kīrtim |
yenaiva kṛṣṇāṅghri-padāṅkite’smin
mamāstu vṛndāvana eva vāsaḥ ||3||
Even the gopīs praised the glory of the Earth [in Vṛndāvana],
“O Earth!
What austerity has been performed by you
Whereby you have been marked by Kṛṣṇa’s feet?”—
May my residence be only here in Vṛndāvana.
Commentary: The gopīs’ prayer is as follows:
kiṁ te kṛtaṁ kṣiti tapo bata keśavāṅghri-
sparśotsavotpulakitāṅga-ruhair vibhāsi |
apy aṅghri-sambhava urukrama-vikramād vā
āho varāha-vapuṣaḥ parirambhaṇena ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.30.10)
“O Earth, what austerity has been performed by you [whereby you have attained such great fortune]? Bata! As a [manifest] festival on account of the touch of Keśava’s feet [upon you], you shine with your hair horripilating! Is this [festival] occuring [now in you] because of his feet [touching you]? Or, [perhaps] because of Urukrama’s [i.e., Vāmana’s expanded] stride [upon you previously]? Or, because of the embrace [you received] of Varāha’s body?”
गोपाङ्गनालम्पटतैव यत्र
यस्यां रसः पूर्णतमत्वमाप ।
यतो रसो वै स इति श्रुतिस्त-
न्ममास्तु वृन्दावन एव वासः ॥४॥
gopāṅganā-lampaṭataiva yatra
yasyāṁ rasaḥ pūrṇatamatvam āpa |
yato raso vai sa iti śrutis tan
mamāstu vṛndāvana eva vāsaḥ ||4||
That [place] wherein there exists [Kṛṣṇa’s] covetousness of the gopīs,
[That] In which [Kṛṣṇa’s] rasa reached ultimate completeness,
On account of which there is the Śruti [statement], “He is verily rasa”—
May my residence be only [there] in Vṛndāvana.
Commentary: The description in Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.7.1), “He is verily rasa” (raso vai saḥ) in regard to Brahman, that is, Svayaṁ Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is fully realized only in Vṛndāvana. There, the rasa Śrī Kṛṣṇa tastes and evokes reaches its ultimate completeness on account of pārakīya-bhāva, that is, he and the gopīs both harboring the notion that the gopīs belong to others, and his there amidst becoming overwhelmed with desirousness to reciprocate with the gopīs’ unparalleled prema as their paramour and so performing līlā evocative of the greatest intensities of rasa within both himself and the gopīs.
भाण्डीरगोवर्धनरासपीठै-
स्त्रीसीमके योजनपञ्चकेन ।
मिते विभुत्वादमितेऽपि चास्मि-
न्ममास्तु वृन्दावन एव वासः ॥५॥
bhāṇḍīra-govardhana-rāsa-pīṭhais
trī-sīmake yojana-pañcakena |
mite vibhutvād amite’pi cāsmin
mamāstu vṛndāvana eva vāsaḥ ||5||
Measured as five yojanas
Within the three boundaries
Of Bhāṇḍīravana, Govardhana, and the Rāsa Sthalī,
Although immeasurable
By virtue of being all-pervading—
May my residence be only here in Vṛndāvana.
यत्राधिपत्यं वृषभानुपुत्र्या
येनोदयेत्प्रेमसुखं जनानाम् ।
यस्मिन् ममाशा बलवत्यतोऽस्मि-
न्ममास्तु वृन्दावन एव वासः ॥६॥
yatrādhipatyaṁ vṛṣabhānu-putryā
yenodayet prema-sukhaṁ janānām |
yasmin mamāśā balavatyato’smin
mamāstu vṛndāvana eva vāsaḥ ||6||
In which the Daughter of Vṛṣabhānu has sovereignty,
By which the joy of prema manifests in people,
And for which I have strong desire—
May my residence be only here in Vṛndāvana.
यस्मिन्महारासविलासलीला
न प्राप यां श्रीरपि सा तपोभिः ।
तत्रोल्लसन्मञ्जुनिकुञ्जपुञ्जे
ममास्तु वृन्दावन एव वासः ॥७॥
yasmin mahā-rāsa-vilāsa-līlā
na prāpa yāṁ śrīr api sā tapobhiḥ |
tatrollasan-mañju-nikuñja-puñje
mamāstu vṛndāvana eva vāsaḥ ||7||
Wherein takes place the great līlā of rāsa dancing,
Which even Śrī [i.e., Lakṣmī Devī] did not attain through austerities—
Amid the multitudes of lovely shining bowers,
May my residence be only there in Vṛndāvana.
सदा रुरुन्यङ्कुमुखा विशङ्कं
खेलन्ति कूजन्ति पिकालिकीराः ।
शिखण्डिनो यत्र नटन्ति तस्मि-
न्ममास्तु वृन्दावन एव वासः ॥८॥
sadā ruru-nyaṅku-mukhā viśaṅkaṁ
khelanti kūjanti pikāli-kīrāḥ |
śikhaṇḍino yatra naṭanti tasmin
mamāstu vṛndāvana eva vāsaḥ ||8||
Where continuously and fearlessly
The ruru deer, nyaṅku deer, and so forth play,
The cuckoos, bumble bees, and parrots coo,
And the peacocks dance—
May my residence be only there in Vṛndāvana.
Commentary: A variant of nyaṅku found in the Sanskrit Ānandī commentary on the text is nyaṅka, which is interpreted therein to mean a tiger. In this reading, the sense is thus, “Fearlessly deer play together with tigers in Vṛndāvana.”
वृन्दावनस्याष्टकमेतदुच्चैः
पठन्ति ये निश्चलबुद्धयस्ते ।
वृन्दावनेशाङ्घ्रिसरोजसेवां
साक्षाल्लभन्ते जनुषोऽन्त एव ॥९॥
vṛndāvanasyāṣṭakam etad uccaiḥ
paṭhanti ye niścala-buddhayas te |
vṛndāvaneśāṅghri-saroja-sevāṁ
sākṣāl labhante januṣo’nta eva ||9||
They of unwaving mind
Who loudly recite
This poem of eight verses
About Vṛndāvana
Verily attain at the end of this birth
Personal service to the lotus feet
Of the Īśas of Vṛndāvana.
Meter
Upendravajrā (Triṣṭup)
Source
Stavāmṛta-laharī edition by Śrī Haribhakta Dāsa.