CHAPTER – 17

Suvrat said:-

All of them, (in person) voluntarily endeavoured to gratify Him by offering sandal paste, auspicious rice grains, flowers, and basil leaves in worship. 1

Mukundanand said:-

‘I bow down to You, O Lord Narayan, the greatest among all the manifestations (of the Supreme One) as Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boer), Kapil, Hari, Vasudev, Vainya (Pruthu), Dattatreya, Hamsa, Nrusimha, Rushabha, Vaman, Parashuram, Yajna-narayan, Rama, Sanak Kumara, Haygriva, Narad, Rajaraja (Nar-Narayan), Vyasa, Krishna, and Buddha’. 2

Muktanand said:-

‘Let my mind contemplate on Your smiling face, who has solemnly bent upon to destroy Kali, and whose forehead is shining brightly because of the tufts of flowers and who is looking beautiful with garlands of fragrant flowers, the glittering sacred (Tilaka) mark, Whose wide and flickering eyes surpass the beauty of the lotus petals, Who has worn a red garment (loin cloth) on His waist, where He has also rested His two arms bearing the armlets’. 3

Gopalanand said:-

‘All glories to You, O Swaminarayan! The Ocean of Mercy, Who clings to a human form in order to confer happiness to His people, Who is a bestower of ultimate bliss to His followers, Who takes pleasure in the accomplishment of his devotees, and Who is the inhabitant of this magnificent and immeasurably lustrous divine abode. Let Your divine appearance give virtual delight to my eyes.’ 4

Brahmanand said:-

‘O! Let not my mind waste a single moment without having seen Your enchanting Self, whose body is dazzling by the tufts of the flowers. I have renounced the whole world, and am begging for your feet (to rest my head on)’. 5

Anandanad said:-

‘Let me anchor You, in my heart of hearts, Who have been adored by all the devotees, with a variety of beautiful new clothes, and with decorative diamond studded ornaments.’ 6

Nityanand said:-

‘Let my eyes take the form of a bee (sitting on a lotus urdhvarekha, and sucking honey) and rest on Your divine Lotus Feet, which are shining with the marks of thunderbolt, a lotus, and lines running upwards (‘Urdhvarekha’), although they are very delicate like a tender sprout, they have the strength of warding off darkness in the form of ignorance from the minds of Your devotees.’ 7

Mahanubhavanand said:-

‘any person who listens to Your discourses, will never get confused by illusion (ignorance) in this worldly life. Then how can that very sight of mine, which is totally engrossed in You, will experience it?” 8

Shukanand said:-

‘In spite of Your assuming a blissful human form as Narayan Muni (I have realized that) You, are the Lord Vasudev Himself, Who is dwelling in His Aksharadham, shining with huge divine luster, beyond the abysmal darkness of (ignorance) said as the primordial matter (Prakriti), and attended by innumerable divine and spiritual beings’. 9

‘O You, Let my mind be wholly absorbed in You Who are dressed in white costume and Who has put on garlands of white flowers,! Who is giving (virtual) delight to the eyes of His devotees, Who is determined to protect the religion and spread spiritual knowledge, Who drives away the internal evils (anger, hatred etc.) of His devotees, by conferring mercy, by manifesting your divine glory and that too by assuming a human form.’ 10

Svayamprakashanand said:-

‘Your esteemed Self is the passive observer of the three states of consciousness like Jagrat (wakefulness), Svapna (state of mind in a dream) and Sushupti (state of mind in a dreamless sleep); and more so, You are the Supreme Self ever residing in Aksharadhama engaged in divine sport in the form of human being. You are the Lord of Maya (illusion, spiritual ignorance). O You, Who are the controller of Vairaj, Hiranyagarbha, Ishvara (Purusha) (the presiding deities of the gross, subtle and causal body of the universe). So, You are the Lord of Lords! Let my mind be engrossed in You.’ 11

Atmanand said:-

‘(As) You are the ultimate cause for the formulation of the Vedas, because of Your favour a stupid person is difficult to be defeated even by intelligent persons. I admire You’. 12

Chaitanyanand said:-

‘O! Lord of my heart! I contemplate on Your divine form, which is surrounded by swans (Param-Hansas, nitya muktas), O You, Who are the Preceptor of the Preceptors. Let not my mind go elsewhere (to any other objective) which I consider as calamity, while I adore and take delight in You.’ 13

Bhajananand said:-

‘You, Who are very kind hearted, by thoughtfully adopting a human figure, have obliged many people on this earth, who have been afflicted with misery, and made them feel comfortable and happy. You are the primal cause of the creation and the dissolution of all the universes; You are the Supreme Self of all Selves; I hold You in my heart.’ 14

Paramachaitanyanand said:-

‘I bow down to You, Who has broad eyes flickering like a Khanjana bird, Who gives delight to the devotees, Who totally eradicates (removes) their suffering and purifies their inner self.’ 15

Paramanand said:-

‘I always bow down to You, O Narayan Muni! Who is supposed to be a colleague of ‘Nara’, and Who wilfully pretends to have assumed a human appearance, Who is always praised and adored by the great sages, who are always far-off from the fear of death, and Who are always dedicated to the path of single pointed (uncompromising) devotion. 16

Krishnanand muni praises:-

‘O Lord! You are deemed to have been unmanifest. O Mighty God! Even the proud ones respectfully worship you in the form of Sankarshana. O Lord of the World! You have an embodied soul. Brahma worships You in the form of Anuiruddha. I salute Thee. 17

Bhagavadanand said:- 

‘I salute Thee! Whose path is invisible, who hunts after those who are desirous of final emancipation and who is the protector of the destitute. O You! To whose feet all the people bow down. Even the preceptors, who are afflicted by the arrows of the God of Love, and have great passion for the sense objects, who make a Tilaka on their forehead and hence are known as the devotees of Vishnu, subject themselves to You’. 18

Shivanand said:- 

‘O Narayan! I take refuge in Your celestial feet, bursting with mercy, which fulfil the desires of all the human beings, which care only for those who have surrendered themselves to You, and which are the vital cause of sustaining this mortal world.’ 19

Vasudevanand said:-

‘You, Who dresses like Lord Shri Krishna, and Who has long, black hair, Who are the Lord of all the great sages, Who have pleased the Lord of Men by performing great sacrifices, Who is the Lord of the religion and the ocean of salvation, Who is the Lord of my inner Self, Who removes the arrogance in the minds of the devotees, and Who purifies the minds of all the people of various cities, I bow down to You.’ 20

Atmanand muni said:-

‘You, Who are the son of Hariprasad, Who have condemned the heretic path, Who are the illuminator of spiritual knowledge, Who is respected even by the Gods, Who resides in the minds of His devotees, and devastates their innate enemies (like anger etc.), Who overcomes pride, who has applied a yellow mark of sandal paste on the forehead, I bow down to You.’ 21

Kapileshvaranand said:-

‘You are the only brave and enterprising conqueror of all the dreadful allies that are inherent in the human beings, You are expert in unveiling the darkness in the form of ignorance. Your valour can dissuade all sins and the three fold miseries of men (your devotees). Kindly do take away with my sins.’ 22

Bhudharananda said, ‘You are the ocean of forgiveness. You protect the earth. You are the destroyer of ignoble path, You are the protector of multitude of kings, who themselves serve Your lotus-like feet, who protect Bhudevas-divinities on the earth i.e. Brahmins; You shower nectar as it were, by casting just a virtual and a compassionate glance on Your favourite devotees, who have conquered their senes, O Vasudev! You are the only one who is the bestower of everlasting favour on us. 23

Yogananda said:-

‘I adore You, by Whose mercy, people attain the Yoga Samadhi, the fourth, the super-conscious state, beyond the three states of consciousness of mind (wakefulness, dream and deep sleep), without having studied the Ashtanga-yoga. 24

Poornananda said:-

“I admire You, Who wears garlands of beautiful flowers, Who bears a sacred mark on His forehead, Who destroys all the sins and the threefold states of the miseries of human-beings, Who easily wards off Ignorance and Death, Who liberates from the clutches of Life and Death the devotees who have surrendered to Him, Who protects His devotees, and gives delight to them, and Who has manifested Himself as the son of Dharmadeva. 25

Gunatitanand said:-

“O Narayanana Muni! You, who are the bestower of happiness to Your own devotees; Your lustrous face is shining like the moon because of the gentle smile; You are the ocean of Mercy; You are calm and quiet; You have put on a number of ornaments; because of the invaluable costumes (you have put on) You look like Natawar-Super dancer, Krishna. I have approached You for your shelter. 26

Premananda and other sages said:-

‘Glory to You O Maharaja! O Lord of Lakshmi (Ma)! You, Who have manifested through the lotus from Narayan’s navel to dispel the miseries created by the Brahma, the Creator and His progeny. You have also dispelled the darkness in the hearts of Your own dear ones by your own majestic luster, which is comparable to the infinite moons. O Adideva, the Primal God! You, who have worn a lustrous garment shining like a lightning, O Sadanand! O Govind! Who preside the Divine Aksharadham! The abode of all auspiciousness! Your lotus-like feet supersedes the Mandara tree. In this world, You are the one who is bent upon destroying the demons, and the rivals, who do not have any desire for final emancipation, who do not have any desire to perform sacrifices, who do not wish to study Vedas and Shastras, who do not have endurance, who are devoid of bashfulness and such other good qualities, who nourish the demands of their agitated sense-organs, who speak harsh words, and who are also arrogant. You are worshipped by Radha and Rama and by the lotus born (Brahma), and those who are emancipated; and Who is tender hearted and forgiving to his devotees!

You are the object of great praise (Uttamashloka), like Tryaksha (Shamkara) who stays on white Kailasa mountain! O Vishnu! O Shri Hari! You have the lustre of the moon of the brighthalf of the month. You are the Expeller of the faults. You are the origin of Light, You are the Lord of the Bliss. You have mild temperament, O Lord of Siddhis! O Lord of Buddhi! You are concentrating on lifting up those who are bound by worldly existence. You have lifted up the vilest (adhama) O Lord of the destitutes! O Shri Hari! O Lord! Be pleased, O friend of the afflicted ones! 27

Suvrat said:-

‘While all the renunciate sages thus composed hymns of praise to the Lord, in this manner, other devotees also started praising Him’. 28

All the devotees said:- 

“We are all blessed and contented, that, our family, Whatever meditation, vows penance, donations, sacrifices, vow of Silence etc observed by ourselves and by our ancestors, has now become fruitful. The creator Himself could not visualize You in the lotus stem for hundreds of years quest of Yours. You are a Primeval Being (Adya) and appeared in a human form which we are virtually experiencing in Yourself, O Lord! 29 Let our mind merge in You, who have worn a yellow lower garment, tucked tightly, in west-band and tied by shining red loin cloth, to facilitate Yourself to hasten to save your devotees from the worldly ocean. 30

Let our speech sing Your merits and our ears hear Your lifestory. Let our eyes perceive Your image, and our mind always meditate on Your form. 31

Thus ends the seventeenth chapter entitled, ‘Narration of description of the praise and worship by the groups of ascetics at the time of Annakutotsatva,’ in the third prakaran of Satsangi Jivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as Dharmashastra, (the rules of the code of conduct). 17