Mucukunda’s Stotra to Kṛshṇa (Brahma Purāṇa)

Mucukunda Stuti · mucukunda stuti, “the praise offered by Mucukunda”

Mucukunda‘s stotra to Kṛshṇa is the praise that King Mucukunda, a man of great valour who had long slept in a mountain cave, offered Śrī Kṛshṇa after the Yavana king Kālayavana was burned to ash by his waking gaze. It is found in the Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 196, the account of Kālayavana. Knowing Kṛshṇa as the avatāra of Hari foretold by old Gārgya, Mucukunda praised him in a voice deep as the thunder of a great cloud. It opens “Svāmī! How many mighty daityas in the devāsura wars could not bear your tejas!” He praises Kṛshṇa as the oceans, mountains, rivers, earth, sky, wind, waters and fire, the one pure reality higher than the Purusha, from whom all that has form and is formless came; he tells how, burned by the three afflictions, he took sorrows for joys and mirages for lakes, and how even the world of the devas gave no rest; and he takes refuge in Parameśvara, longing for the supreme state, the supreme abode. Kṛshṇa granted him the divine lokas and, after a noble birth, mukti.

The setting

Kālayavana. In an assembly Gārgya, the purohita of the Yadus, was insulted by his brother-in-law, and all the Yādavas laughed. In anger Gārgya went to the southern country and performed tapas for a son who would be a terror to the Yadu-vaṃśa, worshipping Śiva and eating only iron powder; in the twelfth year Hara granted him the vara. The sonless king of the Yavanas honoured Gārgya, and from Gārgya and that king’s wife a son was born with a lustre like that of a bee, his chest hard as vajra, named Kālayavana. Crowned king, proud of his strength, he asked who the mighty kings of the earth were; Nārada told him, the Yādavas. With crores of thousands of mlecchas and a fourfold army he marched on Mathurā.

Dvārakā. Kṛshṇa reasoned that the Yādavas were now pressed from two sides, by the Yavana and by Jarāsandha of Magadha, and resolved to build them a fortress that could not be broken, where even women could fight and where no enemy could overpower them whether he himself was present or away. He asked the great Ocean for twelve yojanas and there built Dvārakā, with great gardens, a great fort, many lakes and ramparts, like Amarāvatī, the city of Indra. He settled the people of Mathurā there and returned himself to Mathurā.

The cave. Kṛshṇa went out unarmed, and Kālayavana, knowing him to be Vāsudeva, chased him, weapon in hand: that Svāmī whom even great yogīs cannot grasp with their minds. Kṛshṇa entered the cave where King Mucukunda lay asleep. The Yavana followed, took the sleeper for Kṛshṇa and kicked him. Mucukunda opened his eyes and looked, and in that instant the Yavana was burned up by fire. For Mucukunda had once gone to the devāsura war and conquered the great rākshasas, and had asked the devas for sleep; they had given him the vara that whoever woke him would at once become ash by a fire born from his body.

Recognition. Mucukunda saw Madhusūdana and asked, “Who are you?” Hari said: “I was born to Vasudeva in the Candra-vaṃśa. I am a Yādava.” Mucukunda remembered the words of old Gārgya, knew him as Sarveśvara, bowed and said: “Yes, I know you. You are born of the aṃśa of Vishṇu. Long ago Gārgya said that at the end of the twenty-eighth dvāpara the avatāra of Hari would take place in the Yadu-vaṃśa. You are he. You have come in grace to help mortals. I cannot bear your divine tejas, which is not of this world.” Then, in a voice deep as the thunder of a great cloud, he praised Kṛshṇa.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 196

The stotra

  • “Svāmī! How many mighty daityas in the devāsura wars could not bear your tejas! That tejas of yours I cannot endure.”
  • “For a creature fallen into saṃsāra you alone are the refuge.”
  • “You who take away the pain of those who take refuge in you, be gracious to me. Take away my inauspiciousness.”
  • “The oceans, the mountains, the rivers, the earth, the sky, the wind, the waters and fire are you.”
  • “You are the one pure reality, higher even than the Purusha, pervading all births, which are of the nature of vikalpa, untouched by the objects of sound and the rest, without growth, decay, old age and the like.”
  • “From you the world of moving and unmoving, gross and subtle, was born, is being born, and will be born.”
  • “All that has form and is formless came from you. There is nothing other than you.”
  • “Turning in the wheel of saṃsāra, burned by the three afflictions, I never gained lasting happiness.”
  • “I thought sorrows were joys, and mirages were lakes. That brought me burning from nowhere.”
  • “The pleasure of kingship, sons, friends, wife and the rest, the enjoyment of the objects of sound and the rest: I clung to these as happiness, and in the end they turned into burning.”
  • “I reached the world of the devas, but the host of devas wanted my help.”
  • “Father! Where is lasting nirvṛti, supreme contentment? Who gains that eternal bliss without worshipping you, the source from which the whole world arises?”
  • “Deluded by your māyā, people suffer birth, death, old age and the other painful fruits of pāpa and see Pretapati, the ruler of the departed. Then, bound by the nooses of Kāla, they suffer many kinds of sorrow most cruelly in the narakas. This is your universal form.”
  • “I, greedy for objects, deluded by your māyā, wander in the filthy pit called mamakāra, the sense of ‘mine’.”
  • “Parameśvara! I take refuge in you, who are worthy of praise.”
  • “With a mind scorched by the toil of saṃsāra, weary and in sorrow, I have come to long for you, the supreme state, the supreme abode.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 196

What followed

Praised so by Mucukunda, Hari, ruler of all beings, said to the king: “Attain the divine lokas you desire. By my grace you will enjoy divine pleasures there with unobstructed lordship, regain the memory of your former birth, be born in an excellent family, and after that attain mukti.” The king bowed to Parameśvara and came out of the cave. Outside he saw men of very small bodies, and by this he knew that the Kali-yuga had come. He went to Gandhamādana, the place of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, Badarikāśrama, to perform tapas. Kṛshṇa brought Kālayavana‘s whole army and handed it over to Ugrasena at Dvārakā, and the Yadu-kula was at ease, free from the fear of enemies.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 197

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 196–197