Hymn To The Divine Mother

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Hymn To The Divine Mother

I

 

I know, alas! No hymn, no mantra, neither prayer nor meditation;

Not even how to give Thee praise, the proper ritual of the ownership,

The placement of the hands, I know not, nor how to make Thee

supplication.

But Mother, this at least I know:

Whoever comes to Thee for shelter reaches the end of his woe.

 

II

 

Ignorant of the commands of the scripture, utterly devoid of wealth,

shiftless, indolent, am I,

Unable to do as I ought to do.

Numerous, therefore, are the offenses, I have committed at Thy feet.

Mother! Saviour of all mankind! Auspicious One! Forgive my sins.

A wicked son is sometimes born,

But an unkind mother there cannot be.

 

III

 

Here in world of Thine, O Mother! Many are Thy guileless children;

But restless am I among them all, and so it is nothing very strange

That I should turn myself from Thee.

Yet sure it were impossible that Thou shouldst ever turn from me:

A wicked son is sometimes born,

But an unkind mother there cannot be.

 

IV

 

Mother of the world! Thou, my own Mother!

Never have I served Thee, never yet offered Thee gold or precious

gems; And still Thy love is beyond compare.

A wicked son is sometimes born,

But an unkind mother there cannot be.

 

V

 

Bewildered by the rules of conduct, by the injunctions of the

scriptures,

I have abandoned, one by one, the shining gods;

And now my life has passed beyond the meridian.

Mother, shouldest Thou withhold Thy mercy,

Where, then shall I fly for shelter, weak and helpless as I am?

 

VI

 

If one who feeds on the flesh of dogs can learn to speak with

honeyed words,

A beggar gain uncounted wealth and so live long and fearlessly,

Simply hearing Thy magic name -

Who can describe what must befall one who repeats it night and day?

 

VII

 

Only by taking Thee for Spouse Did Siva become the unrivalled Lord

— He who is naked and uncouth,

Besmeared with ash from the funeral pyre;

Whose hair is matted on His head,

About whose neck are venomous snakes — The Lord of every living

thing.

 

VIII

 

I do not ask of Thee, O Mother! Riches, good fortune, or salvation;

I seek no happiness, no knowledge.

This is my only prayer to Thee:

That, as the breath of life forsakes me,

Still I may chant Thy holy name.

 

 

IX

 

Mother, I have not worshipped Thee

With proper rituals and the prescribed ingredients of sacrifice.

Many indeed are my sinful deeds!

Day and night I have spent myself in idle talk, forgetting Thee.

O Divine Mother! If Thou canst show

The slightest mercy to one so frail, it will befit Thy majesty.

 

X

 

Durga! Goddess of Mercy's Ocean!

Stricken with grief, to Thee I pray:

Do not believe me insincere;

A child who is seized with thirst or hunger

Thinks of his mother constantly.

 

XI

 

Mother of all the universe!

If Thou shouldst show Thy fullest mercy,

Would even that be a cause for wonder?

A mother cannot refuse her son,

Though he have done a million wrongs.

 

XII

 

Nowhere exists, in all the world, another sinner to equal me,

Nowhere, a Power like Thyself for overcoming sinfulness:

O Goddess! Keeping this in mind,

Do Thou as it pleases Thee.

 

 

Swami Nikhilananda, Self-Knowledge [Atmabodha],

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1989, p. 193-94.