Citraketu’s Stotra to Saṃkarshaṇa
The Stotra of Citraketu to Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa is a hymn sung by King Citraketu of Śūrasena when he saw Saṃkarshaṇa face to face (darśana). Citraketu sang it after seven days of japa (repeated recitation) of the Catur-vyūha mantra. It is found in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, sixth skandha, chapter 16.
The stotra speaks of the highest place of Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa, of nishkāma-bhakti (devotion that asks for no reward), and of how every thing that exists rests in him. It ends by saying that no words can describe him fully. Citraketu sang it with a pure inner mind (antaḥkaraṇa), after all his pāpa (sin) had been destroyed at the moment of the darśana.
The setting
Citraketu’s only son had died. Aṅgiras and Nārada then taught him that all things pass away. Nārada Maharshi gave him the Catur-vyūha mantra:
Oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya pradyumnāyāniruddhāya saṃkarshaṇāya
Citraketu did japa of this mantra with prāṇāyāma (control of breath) and pratyāhāra (drawing the senses inward) for seven days. He took only water as food. His inner mind became greatly purified.
Then he came into the presence of Bhagavān Ādi Śesha. Saṃkarshaṇa-Ananta appeared white like a lotus stalk. He wore dark blue clothes and was adorned with a crown, shoulder ornaments, a sacred thread and bracelets. His face was calm and his eyes were tinged with red. He sat among the siddheśvaras (lords of the siddhas).
At that very moment of darśana, all of Citraketu’s pāpa was destroyed and his inner mind became completely pure. He wept with love, and the hair on his whole body stood up. He bowed to the ground and wet the seat (pīṭha) of Saṃkarshaṇa with his tears. For a long time he could not speak. When he recovered, he sang this stotra.
The stotra
The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa gives the teaching of the stotra under these themes.
Equal vision as the highest worship
The stotra opens by saying that sama-darśana (equal vision toward all) is the highest form of worship before Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa. The bhakta (devotee) who sees Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa in all beings, with no liking for some and no dislike of others, is the truest devotee.
Nishkāma-bhakti as bhāgavata-dharma
Citraketu declares the glory of nishkāma-bhakti, devotion without asking for any fruit. He calls it the highest bhāgavata-dharma. This devotion makes no bīja (seed) for rebirth. The one who follows it leaves no remainder of karma that forces another birth.
Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa as the paramārtha of all that exists
From the smallest paramāṇu (atom) to the vast mahat-tattva, every level of existence and every thing that can be seen finds its paramārtha (ultimate meaning and support) in Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa alone. Nothing that exists is other than he or apart from him. He is the adhishṭhāna (ground) of all the tattvas.
Countless brahmāṇḍas like specks
Countless brahmāṇḍas (universes) float in Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa like grains of dust. Each one is complete in itself, with its own Brahmā, its devas and its cycles of time. Yet all of them together are only a small part of his endless svarūpa (own form). No one brahmāṇḍa, and not all of them together, can measure his nature.
Darśana as the greatest remover of pāpa
His darśana alone removes all pāpa. Citraketu says from his own experience that the moment of Saṃkarshaṇa’s darśana destroyed all the pāpa he had gathered and made his inner mind fully pure. No other prāyaścitta (act of atonement) was needed.
No description is enough
Citraketu ends by saying that no words can describe the Supreme fully. Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa knows all. There is nothing new that the devotee can tell him, and no description adds to what he already knows of himself. Yet the stotra is the devotee’s offering. It is not news for Saṃkarshaṇa. It is the devotee’s own surrender.
Saṃkarshaṇa’s teaching in reply
Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa then taught Citraketu the Advaita tattva. All beings are Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa. The Ātmā is Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa. He is the cause of all beings. He is veda-rūpa (the form of the Vedas) and also the Brahman to which the Vedas point.
The world arises from Brahman, stays in Brahman and merges into Brahman, as clay is the ground of all pots. The Ātmā is the witness of the three states: jāgrat (waking), svapna (dream) and sushupti (deep sleep). Even in deep sleep there is pure awareness that knows “the world was not present”. That awareness is ānanda-ghana (dense bliss) and nirguṇa Brahman. It is the svarūpa of Bhagavān Saṃkarshaṇa in his saguṇa form.
He told Citraketu to hold this teaching in his mind. Through it Citraketu would soon gain Ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the Ātmā), Ātmānubhava (direct experience of the Ātmā) and jīvanmuktatva (freedom while living). Then Saṃkarshaṇa disappeared.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, sixth skandha, chapter 16