Kulāmṛta Stotra

The Kulāmṛta Stotra is a hymn in praise of the highest qualities of Bhagavān Vishṇu and of his presence in all things. Bhagavān Śiva composed it and taught it to Nārada. It is found in the Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, chapter 232.

The name Kulāmṛta means the nectar (amṛta) of the kula (lineage, or the whole). The stotra holds the pure essence of all that is worth praising in Bhagavān Vishṇu. It shows him as nirguṇa Brahman, as the one who holds up all dharma, and as the refuge of all devotees.

The setting

The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa gives the stotra as the own composition of Bhagavān Śiva. He taught it to Nārada as a sign of his firm devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu. So a stotra to Bhagavān Vishṇu comes from the greatest Śaiva deva. In the Purāṇa the highest devatās themselves take part in nāmasaṅkīrtana (singing the names) and in stotra-pāṭha (reciting stotras).

The qualities praised

The stotra praises Bhagavān Vishṇu by listing his qualities at length:

  • Nirguṇatva. Bhagavān Vishṇu is beyond the three guṇas. He takes saguṇa forms for the sake of his devotees and the good of the world, but his own nature is never touched by any guṇa.
  • Sarvajñatva. He knows all. His knowledge has no limit, no darkness and no blind spot.
  • Śuddhata. He is perfectly pure. No action and no company in all creation stains him.
  • Ānandatva. His nature is bliss itself. He does not feel joy; he is joy.
  • Ajara, Amara. He is ageless and deathless. The body he takes in an avatāra never suffers the decay that falls on ordinary bodies.
  • Pūrṇatva. He is complete. Bhagavān Vishṇu lacks nothing. All creation comes from his fullness and does not make him less.
  • Advaita. He is non-dual. The many things of creation do not divide his nature. He stays one and whole.
  • Akshara. He is imperishable. He is the syllable that never falls away and the base of all language and all being.

Bhagavān Śiva as a devotee

The stotra returns again and again to the place of Bhagavān Śiva as a devotee before Bhagavān Vishṇu. One line says:

Naśaknomi vibho samyak kartuṃ pūjāṃ yathoditām

The meaning is: “O all-pervading Bhagavān Vishṇu, I am not able to do pūjā to you fully, as you truly deserve.”

Bhagavān Śiva is the destroyer, the highest yogī and the knower of all mantras. When even he says this, it shows that the greatness of Bhagavān Vishṇu is beyond every way of honouring him. Even the ablest devotee can offer only a part of the praise that is due.

The phalaśruti

Reciting the Kulāmṛta Stotra gives the devotee:

  • sons and children
  • wealth (artha)
  • vidyā (sacred knowledge)
  • jāti-smaratva, the rare gift of remembering past lives. It lets the jīva build on its earlier spiritual progress and not begin again from nothing.

A house where Vishṇu-pūjā and stotra-pāṭha are not done regularly is compared to a cattle-shed. People may live there, but it lacks the holy purpose for which a human birth is given.

Sources

  • Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, chapter 232