Śiva’s Stotra to Śrī Kṛshṇa (Brahma Purāṇa)
Śiva Kṛta Śrī Kṛshṇa Stotra · śiva kṛta śrī kṛshṇa stotra, “the stotra to Śrī Kṛshṇa spoken by Śiva”
Śiva’s Stotra to Śrī Kṛshṇa is the praise Bhagavān Śiva spoke to Śrī Kṛshṇa at Śoṇitapura, when the Sudarśana cakra had cut off the thousand arms of the daitya Bāṇa and Kṛshṇa stood resolved to slay him. It is told in the Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 206, as Vyāsa tells the munis the battle with Bāṇa. Śiva hails Kṛshṇa as Jagannātha, Purushottama and Parātpara, without beginning or end, calls his deeds in every kind of body his līlā, and asks him to spare Bāṇa, to whom Śiva had given abhaya. Kṛshṇa turns back the cakra and answers that he and Śiva are one.
The setting
Bāṇa bowed to Trilocana and said that his thousand arms were a mere burden without a battle. Śaṅkara told him that a battle would come when his peacock banner broke, and on reaching home Bāṇa found it broken. At that time Citralekhā, by the power of yoga, brought Aniruddha, the grandson of Kṛshṇa, to Bāṇa’s daughter Ushā in the maidens’ palace. Aniruddha beat down Bāṇa’s servants with an iron parigha and defeated Bāṇa himself, but Bāṇa bound him with the serpent-astra in a battle of māyā. Nārada told the Yādavas, and Hari mounted the divine Garuḍa and went with Balarāma and Pradyumna to Bāṇa’s city.
At the gate Hari destroyed the host of the pramatha-gaṇas. The Mahājvara, the great fever, three-footed and three-headed, came against him for Bāṇa’s protection, and the Vaishṇava-jvara drove the Māheśvara-jvara out of Kṛshṇa’s body. When Brahmā asked Hari to forgive it, Hari said, “I have forgiven,” and drew the Vaishṇava-jvara back into himself. To the jvara he said: “Whoever remembers this battle of yours with me will be free of fever.”
Then came the battle of Hari and Hara, so terrible that the devas thought the dissolution of the world had come. With the jṛmbhaṇa-astra Govinda made Śaṅkara yawn, and Śaṅkara sat down in his chariot and fought no more. Kumārasvāmī, pierced by Garuḍa and by Pradyumna’s astras, withdrew. Bāṇa came on in a chariot yoked by Nandīśa, and at last Kṛshṇa took up the Sudarśana, shining like a hundred suns. As he released it, Koṭarī, the śakti of the rākshasas’ māyā and mantra, appeared unclothed before him; he closed his eyes and threw the cakra, and it cut down Bāṇa’s forest of arms. When Hari then resolved to slay Bāṇa too, Tripuravairi came at once and spoke to him gently.
The stotra
“Kṛshṇa! Kṛshṇa! Jagannātha! I know that you are Purushottama, Parātpara, higher than the highest, without beginning or end. Taking bodies among devas, humans, animals, birds and the rest, and slaying the daityas: this activity of yours is your līlā. So be gracious. I have given abhaya to this Bāṇa; you should not make my word false. He grew proud through the pride of my shelter. There is no fault of yours in this. I gave varas to this daitya, so I ask you to bear with him.”
Kṛshṇa’s answer
Govinda, his face gracious, withdrew the cakra from Bāṇa and said: “Śaṅkara, since he is one to whom you gave varas, let this Bāṇa live. Out of regard for your word I have turned back the cakra. The abhaya you give is given by me. You should not see me as different from you. Whoever I am, that you are. This world with its devas, asuras and humans is also we. Those deluded by avidyā see difference.”
As Kṛshṇa spoke, the serpent bonds fell away. Seating Aniruddha and Ushā on Garuḍa, Balarāma, Kṛshṇa and his retinue returned to Dvārakā.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 206
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 206