Akrūra Stotra

The Akrūra Stotra is a hymn sung by Akrūra from inside the waters of the Yamunā on the way to Mathurā. He sang it after he was shown Bhagavān Mahāvishṇu reclining on Śesha, with the devas and ṛshis around him. The hymn joins sāṅkhya (the count of the tattvas), advaita (non-duality), the path of bhakti and the avatāras of Bhagavān Vishṇu. It is found in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, tenth Skandha, chapter 40.

The setting

Akrūra was taking Kṛshṇa and Balarāma from Gokula to Mathurā in his chariot. He stopped at a ford of the Yamunā for his ritual bath. As he went under the water, he had a vision. First he saw Kṛshṇa and Balarāma in their divine forms on Śesha. Then he saw Bhagavān Mahāvishṇu, four-armed and reclining on Ādiśesha. Brahmā, Bhagavān Śiva, Indra, all the great ṛshis, all the devas, Lakshmī and all the divine śaktis stood around him.

Akrūra came up from the water and saw the two brothers sitting at ease in his chariot. In a flash he understood who it was that he had been carrying. He went under the water once more and saw the vision again. Then, from within the water, overcome by this knowing, he composed and sang this stotra.

Akrūra had set out as an emissary of the king Kaṃsa. He ended the journey as a worshipper.

The stotra

The opening on sāṅkhya

The stotra opens with the tattvas of sāṅkhya: the avyakta (the unmanifest), the mahat, the ahaṅkāra, the five tanmātras, the five mahābhūtas, the ten indriyas and the manas. All of them arise from the first prakṛti, which is itself a śakti (power) of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The purusha looks on all this without being caught in it. Akrūra names this purusha as Kṛshṇa.

The Viśvarūpa

Akrūra says that the whole cosmos, with its mountains, oceans, rivers and all creatures, is the body of this one Bhagavān Vishṇu. He fills it and is beyond it. The cosmos is not a creation apart from him. It is shown within him.

The word of advaita

There is one without a second. The look of many, of separate selves and separate beings, is the play of māyā. The ātmā that lives in every heart is the same one who reclines on Śesha and who now sits in this chariot.

Salutation to the avatāras

Akrūra salutes the chief avatāras of Bhagavān Vishṇu:

  • Brahmā, the first self-showing at the start of creation
  • Hayagrīva, who won back the Vedas from the asuras Madhu and Kaiṭabha
  • Varāha, who lifted the earth from the first waters
  • Narasiṃha, who destroyed Hiraṇyakaśipu
  • Vāmana, who bound Bali with three strides
  • Paraśurāma, who cleared the earth of the kshatriyas who followed adharma
  • Rāma, who destroyed Rāvaṇa and set dharma up again
  • the present form of Kṛshṇa and Balarāma, who have come down to remove the burden of the earth
  • Kalki, who will come at the end of the Kali Yuga

The path of bhakti

The stotra ends by saying that the path of bhakti is the highest. Of all the paths, jñāna, karma and yoga, none brings one to Bhagavān Vishṇu as directly as loving devotion. He is beyond the reach of the highest reasoning of the Vedas, yet a heart that loves him simply and fully wins him.

Sources

  • Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, tenth Skandha, chapter 40