Devas’ Stotra to Śrī Hari
The Devas’ Stotra is the prayer that all the devas sang to Bhagavān Śrī Hari when Vṛtrāsura had swallowed their weapons and taken their strength. It is found in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, sixth skandha, chapter 9. The stotra says that Śrī Hari is above all, that even Kāla (Time) is afraid of him, and that he is free of the sense of being the doer and of liking and disliking. It also says that a single drop of the amṛta (nectar) of his glory makes all other pleasure vanish from the mind of a devotee. Śrī Hari appeared in the west holding the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā. He sent the devas to Dadhīca Maharshi for the Vajra.
The setting
Tvashṭā’s yajña had brought forth Vṛtrāsura. The armies of the devas attacked the great asura with all their weapons and divine astras (missiles). Vṛtrāsura swallowed them all.
Their tejas (radiance) was taken and their strength was gone. In fear the devas drew back toward the west. They stood together, with their minds on one aim, and sang this stotra to Bhagavān Śrī Hari, the cause of the whole world, the full Parabrahman.
The stotra
The one refuge
The five bhūtas (elements), the three worlds and all the devas, with Brahmā among them, are afraid of Kāla. The devas worship Śrī Hari and offer him pūjā. Yet Kāla itself is afraid of Śrī Hari. So Śrī Hari alone is their refuge.
Free of the sense of being the doer
In Śrī Hari there is no kartṛtva-ahaṃkāra (the pride of “I am the doer”), and no rāga (liking) and no dvesha (dislike). By his own nature, which is solid ānanda (bliss), he is complete, and his inner wish is always fulfilled. Śrī Hari shows himself equally in all.
The devas say that whoever takes refuge in anyone but him is like a person who tries to cross the ocean by holding the tail of a dog. It will not carry them across.
Matsya and Svāyambhuva Manu
Manu tied the prow (śīpa) of the boat, which was the earth, to the great horn of the Matsya avatāra. He was kept safe from the great danger with ease. The devas say that they, who take refuge in the same Śrī Hari, will surely be kept safe from the terror of Vṛtrāsura.
The way of his līlā
The devas say they cannot grasp the way of the līlā (divine play) of Śrī Hari. He has no support from outside. He has no body bound by prakṛti (nature). No guṇas are forced on him. He does not need their help, and no change comes to his own nature. Yet he makes, keeps and draws back this world of the three guṇas.
The two descriptions of Śrī Hari
The devas ask: is Śrī Hari like a bound living being of this world, who feels pleasure and pain through taking the body and its acts as himself? Or is he the one pure witness (kevala-sākshī), content in himself (Ātmārāma) and peaceful by nature, beyond being the doer and the enjoyer, whose sight of Brahman and the ātmā is never broken?
They say that even they, the devas, cannot fully settle this. Both descriptions are true at once, because the māyā-śakti (power of māyā) of Śrī Hari joins what seem to be opposites without contradiction. These are saguṇatva (having guṇas) and nirguṇatva (being without guṇas), and kartṛtva (being the doer) and akartṛtva (not being the doer).
Śrī Hari as the inner ātmā of all
The devas look at the matter once more. The base (adhishṭhāna) of this world is Śrī Hari. He is the cause of the five great elements, and they are the cause of all that is made. So the true nature (paramārtha-svarūpa) of all creation is Śrī Hari alone.
He lives as the innermost ātmā in all beings and lights up all the indriyas (senses). These workings of the senses themselves point back to him, the master of all (Sarveśvara). When this made world is taken back into its cause, what is left is that one Parameśvara alone, without a second.
The amṛta of his glory
O Madhusūdana! The devas say to him that for a devotee who is the crown of devotees, a single drop of the ocean of the amṛta of his glory is enough to make unbroken bliss (akhaṇḍa-ānanda) well up in the mind. From that moment all memory of the pleasure found in things seen and heard before is gone.
There are good people (sat-purushas) whose devotion is for him alone (ananya-bhakti). He is their own self, their well-wisher and the true form of all. Their minds rest at ease in him. Such great ones (mahātmās) taste Parabrahman, solid bliss, as the ātmā within. How could they ever leave his lotus feet?
The avatāras
The devas say: O Bhagavān Śrī Hari! You are the home, the ātmā and the refuge of the three worlds. You measured the three worlds in three steps. You are also the three-eyed one. Your glories in the three worlds are enchanting. The rākshasas, the children of Diti and Danu, are also your vibhūtis (glories).
Yet at times, when they went too far, you came down through your own māyā-śakti. You came as a deva (Vāmana), as a human (Śrī Rāma), as an animal (Varāha), as the joined Nara-Nṛsiṃha and as a jalacara (a creature of the water, Matsya). Each time you gave them the due result of their offence. In the same way, if it pleases you, slay this son of Tvashṭā, Vṛtra.
The last prayer
O Bhagavān Śrī Hari, you are free of the fault of being the doer! You are our father and our grandfather. We are yours, and we bow to you. Our hearts are bound in meditation to your two lotus feet. You have shown your mūrti (form) to us and taken us as your own.
The devas ask Śrī Hari to calm their distress with his beautiful, pure smile, which is cool, loving and kind, and with the drops of nectar that flow in the sweet words from his lips.
The answer of Śrī Hari
Bhagavān Śrī Hari appeared in the west, holding the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā. Sixteen attendants came with him. They were like him in form in every way, except that they did not have the Śrīvatsa mark and the Kaustubha jewel on the chest. The devas saw him and were filled with ānanda (joy). They bowed to the ground, rose again and praised him.
Śrī Hari said: “Your praise is full of tattva-jñāna (knowledge of the truth), and I am pleased. Through this praise, devotion to me will rise in the hearts of people, and the truth that I am the inner ātmā and Īśvara will stay in their memory. When I am pleased, what is there that cannot be had? Yet those who know the truth and have devotion for me alone ask nothing of me except devotion itself.”
He then sent the devas to Dadhīca Maharshi, to ask him for his bones. Viśvakarmā would make the Vajra from them, filled with the tejas of Śrī Hari himself, and with it Indra could slay Vṛtrāsura.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, sixth skandha, chapter 9