Sri Krsna Namastakam prayers by Rupa Goswami

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Sri Sri Krsna-nama-astakam

By Sri Rupa Gosvami

 

 

Verse one

 

nikhila-sruti-mauliratnamala

dyuti-nirajita-padapankajanta

ayi! mukta-kulair-upasyamanah

paritastvah harinama sahsrayami

 

"Oh my dear Harinama (Holy Name of Krsna)! You are identical with Lord

Sri Krsna's transcendental form according to all of the upanisads. The

upanisads personified glorify the effulgence emanating from Your lotus

feet. In other words, all of the personified Vedas taking shelter at

Your lotus feet sing Your transcendental glories with chosen verses

and yogis, rsis, and all kinds of liberated souls appropriately

worship Your lotus feet. Therefore, I completely surrender myself unto

Your lotus feet."

 

Verse two

 

jaya namadheya! munivrndageya!

jana-ranjanaya paramaksarakrte

tvamanadaradapi managudiritah

nikhilogratapa-patlih vilumpasi

 

"Oh my dear Krsna-nama (Holy Name of Krsna)! You are eternally

glorified by the realized souls! Just to attract the consciousness of

conditioned souls throughout the material universes out of Your

causeless mercy You manifest in an audible form of transcendental

sound vibration. Your mercy is so great that when someone chants You

accidentally or in neglect even for one time you destroy inconceivable

quantities of their accumulated sinful reactions from many births

together. My dear Holy Name of Krsna, all glories unto You!"

 

Verse three

 

yadabhaso 'pyudyan kavalita-bhavadhvanta-vibhavo

drsah tattvandhanamapi disati bhakta-pranayinim

janastasyodattah jagati bhagavan-nama-tarane

krti te nirvaktuh ka iha mahimanah prabhavati

 

"Oh my dear Holy Name of Krsna, You are more brilliant than the sun!

You are so merciful that if someone utters you out of fear or merely

as a "nama-abhasa" (imperfect stage prior to offenseless chanting)

even then Your mercy is so great that You destroy their material

ignorance and binding attachments to conditioned life and gradually

bless such conditioned souls devoid of spiritual knowledge with

transcendental knowledge of devotional service to Lord Sri Krsna! Oh

my dear Holy Name! Who in this universe can sufficiently glorify Your

transcendental qualities even amongst the great realized souls? All

glories unto You!"

 

Verse four

 

yad brahma saksat-krtinistayapi

vinasamayati vina na bhogaih

apaiti nama! sphuranena tatte

prarabdha karmeti virauti vedah

 

"By unbroken and concentrated meditation upon the impersonal Brahman

one is unable to destroy the primordial sinful and pious karmic

reactions which lie beyond the immediate renunciation of material

enjoyments but come from time immemorial. However, my dear Holy Name!

By Your vibrating on the tip of the tongue, in other words, by merely

pronouncing You these primordial karmic reactions are destroyed!"

 

Verse five

 

aghadamana-yasodanandanau nandasuno

kamalanayana-gopicandra-vrndavanedrah

pranata-karuna-krsna-vityaneka-svarupe

tvayi mama ratiruccairvardhatah namadheya

 

"My dear killer of the Aghasura! My dear beloved son of Mother Yasoda!

My dear son of Maharaja Nanda! My dear Lotus-eyed! My dear beloved of

the gopis! My dear Lord of Vrndavana! My dear worshipful merciful

Lord! My dear Lord Krsna! Oh my beloved Holy Name in these and Your

countless other forms! You manifest Your transcendental vibration in

this world to deliver the conditioned souls from the bondage of the

repetition of birth and death in material life out of Your causeless

and inconceivable mercy! My dear Holy Name! May spontaneous attraction

for chanting You increase unlimitedly by Your causeless mercy upon

me!"

 

Verse six

 

vacyah vacakamityudeti bhavato nama-svarupa-dvayah

purvasmat parameva hanta karunah tatrapi janimahe

yastasmin vihitaparadhanivah pranisamantad-bhave

dasyenedamupasya so 'pi hi sadanandambudhau majjati

 

"Dear Holy Name! You exist in two transcendental forms (svarupas),

namely: (1) One form is Your personal form of bliss as the Supreme

Living Person-the object of glorifications in transcendental sound;

and (2) another form is Your form as the Holy Name such as "Krsna",

"Govinda" and other transcendental names which indicate or describe

Your transcendental pastime forms of bliss. You are one and the same

ever-existent in these two transcendental forms. Of the two, I

consider that Your audible form as the Holy Name such as "Krsna,

Govinda, etc." is more merciful than Your visible personal form as the

Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is because if someone is engaged

in worshiping Your Deity forms and subsequently becomes implicated in

offenses and then takes shelter of Your transcendental form as the

Holy Name chanting "Krsna, Govinda, etc." while worshiping You, My

dear Holy Name, You, out of Your causeless mercy, purify that person

of all kinds of offenses and he is able to relish the nectar of the

unlimited ocean of transcendental bliss."

 

Verse seven

 

suditasrita janartirasaye

ramya-cidaghana-sukha svarupine

nama! gokula-mahotsavaya te

krsna purna-vapuse namo namah

 

"Oh my dear Holy Name! Oh beloved identical form of Krsna in sound!

The devotees who take shelter of Your lotus feet through constantly

chanting You are even saved from destruction due to offenses against

the Holy Name (nama-aparadha) out of Your causeless mercy. You are

manifest as the Supreme Personal Form of concentrated transcendental

ecstasy! You are personally the form of transcendental happiness and a

daily festival for the residents of Gokula (Vrndavana-dhama). You are

the full form of transcendental glory and eternal bliss through which

You manifest through nectarean loving exchanges with Your devotees.

Therefore, my dear Holy Name of Krsna, I offer again and again my

respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet!"

 

Verse eight

 

narada-virnojjivana! sudhormi-niryasa-madhuripura

tvah krsna-nama kamah sphura me rasane rasena sada

 

"Oh my dear Holy Name of Krsna! You are the life and soul of the

"vina" [stringed instrument like a tamboura] of Devarsi Narada Muni!

You are an eternal tidal wave of full transcendental nectar! I humbly

fall at Your lotus feet and beg for Your causeless mercy to make me

always fixed in Your service so that You may always dance tirelessly

on my tongue, i.e. kindly bless me that I may always be engaged in

chanting You without cessation."