Neither father nor mother, neither relative nor donor, neither son nor daughter, neither servants nor husband, neither lineage nor knowledge, and not even my age-increment, but O Bhavānī! Indeed, only You are the course of souls in metempsychosis.[1]
I — who is lustful, who is greedy, who is maddened, and who is always tied by the lasso of worldly-existence — am scared of immense-pain in this ocean of metempsychosis. O Bhavānī! Indeed, only You are the course of souls in metempsychosis.[2]
I don't know the act of giving and also meditation or penance; I don't know tantra (techniques) and also eulogies or chanting; I don't know to honor and also abandoning self into service. [But still] O Bhavānī! Indeed, only You are the course of souls in metempsychosis.[3]
O Mother! I don't know good deeds or shrines; I don't know salvation and I somewhat understand spiritual indifference; I don't know devotion or penance, but still O Mother Bhavānī! Indeed, only You are the course of souls in metempsychosis.[4]
I am always engrossed in bad deeds, in bad company, in bad thinking; I am a bad servant [of Yours] and I lack the conduct of my lineage; I am engrossed in bad conduct, and I have a bad [spiritual]-vision; O Bhavānī! Indeed, only You are the course of souls in metempsychosis.[5]
I don't know Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, Indra, Sūrya, Candra, or someone else. I don't know everyone else, and O Bhavānī, Who is the refuge! Indeed, only You are the course of my soul in metempsychosis.[6]
You are my incessant protection in dispute, in unhappy moments, in rage and madness, in foreign-residence, in water-deluge, in fire-outrage, in mountains, or in forests. O Bhavānī, Who is the refuge! Indeed, only You are the course of souls in metempsychosis.[7]
I, who is an orphan, who is poor, who is associated with old-age and illness, who has a pale-face, and who is very weak and destitute, is always in the middle of troubles and destroyed. O Bhavānī! Indeed, only You are the course of souls in metempsychosis.[8]
Poet: Ādi Śańkarācārya (attrib.)
Source: Stotraratnāvalī — Gitapress
Translator: Animesh Kumar
© Stutimandal 2007, 03 Mar
