Devi Stavam: Homage to the Divine mother of Mannantala
Unfurling a resplendent umbrella,studded with radiant pearls,
O Mother, You are showering
the finest flowers of Grace.
May you burn, in Your fiery anger,
the modulating potentials of the phenomena
and transform all the fecund tendencies
into the fragrance of Your compassion.
May Your word dispel the opulent causes
along with their consequent proliferation’s
and bless me to cross
the ocean of maya's modalities.
O Mother of auspicious form,
You have shared the sacred body of Siva,
clad in cosmic space.
Your hair is adorned with the crescent
and the glow of the silvery Ganges.
The beauty of Your face surpasses
the sheen of the full moon.
May Your lotus feet be firmly planted in my heart,
so that the dark shadow of my ego
shall not make my life a pursuit in vanity
and obliterate the wisdom You benignly grant.
Radiant Splendor--such is Your nature;
the very thought of Your luminous form
lifts the burden of grief from all hearts
and fills them with joy and peace;
everyone will rejoice when, by Your Grace,
all obstacles are removed
and efforts are rewarded.
0 Mother; favoring all worlds,
You reside in the heart
as Supreme Consciousness;
there is not one thing which will not be
achieved by Your Grace;
like rivers that flow into
and merge with the ocean,
all our prayers reach Your lotus feet
and are transformed.
O daughter of Daksha,
the doom of demonic forces,
do not let me disintegrate into
this phenomenal projection of Your illusion.
Bless me, Supreme Lady,
to restrain all the senses and live in peace.
The hungers that cause great anguish
are hard to appease.
When You receive me into Your womb
I will remain firm as days pass by,
there is no doubt.
O Auspicious One,
know that with my mind
spinning like a top,
I am powerless to reach
the sky of consciousness.
Bless this hapless one
who is ever in adoration
of Your lotus feet,
craving to be united with them
to find salvation.
Even to the most clever,
the trap of the senses
is an inescapable snare,
and You do not favor him.
if he is intoxicated by Your glory,
all the best happens to him instantaneously
and he dwells in eternal happiness.
Are You not that Goddess
who knows all these?
This body is food for vultures,
the source of all misery--isn't it?
O Great Creatress, shower Your Grace!
O dear one, who has always
shared Your body with the Crescent-Bearer,
bless me to go beyond all suffering.
O Goddess of mannantale, Sovereign of Earth,
the appropriateness of Your name is a marvel:
for all inheres in this earth,
and You are the Goddess
who remains transcending and yet apportions the needs of all.