Shri Devi Atharva-shirsham

Sri Devi Atharvashirsham

1. All the gods approached the Devi asking: “Who are you, O mighty Goddess?”

2. She replied: “I am the embodiment of the all-pervading Brahma.

From me nature, mankind and the Self enter the world, both void and non-void.

3. I am bliss and non-bliss. I am knowledge and non-knowledge.

I am the desire to know Brahma and non-Brahma.

I am the five primordial principles and the non-principles.

I am the complete universe.

4. I am the Vedas and their absence.

I am knowledge, I am the absence of knowledge.

I am both born and unborn.

I am below and above and also across.

5. I move about in the forms of Rudra and Vasu.

I am that infinite Aditi by whom the gods also come into being.

I hold aloft Mitra and Varuna, Indra, Agni and both the Asvins.

6. I place Soma Tvashta, Pushan and Bhaga.

I carry forth Vishnu, Brahma and Prajapati over vast spaces.

7. I reward the sincere worshipper with prosperity for their prayers and offerings.

I am the queen of prosperity. I am the first to be worshipped at all gatherings of devotees.

I bring forth the All-Father on the world’s summit.

My birth place is in the Waters of Consciousness.

The one who knows this is filled with the ocean of divine knowledge.”

8. The gods said: “Namaskar to the goddess, the great goddess who is kind to all beings.

Namaskar: to her who in truth is constrained by her very nature to bestow profound blessings.”

9. To that fiercely shining, fire-colored flame of her tapasya we offer the fruits of our actions. May she graciously accept them.

We namaskar to you, O Durga Devi, destroyer of Asuras, our refuge is on the forefront of your Lotus Feet

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10. The gods and all creatures must offer respectful praise to that Goddess who gives us abundant blessings, she who exists in all of us in the form of voice, of intellect and of vigor.

11. To you who are the great night of time, praised by Brahma, adored by Vishnu, you who are Mother of Skanda.

To you who are Sarasvati and Aditi and the daughter of Daksha,

To you who is the purifying wind, that beloved wife of Shiva,

We offer our namaskar.

12. We worship and meditate on that Goddess Mahalaxmi, the all powerful Shakti, may she inspire us.

13. O Daksha, your daughter Aditi was the birthplace of the auspicious immortal family of gods to whom we pray.

14. The Mother of all, the adorable, highest–born, swan-rider who holds a lotus in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other, Mother of the lord of storms, she is born again and again.

Her marvelous power extends in all directions.

She is the embodiment of the supreme knowledge.

She is the Omkara.

15. She is the atma-shakti, wielding the noose, the hook and the bow and arrows.

She is the Great Delusion. She is the Holy Supreme Knowledge.

One who knows this overcomes sadness.

16. We bow to You O Mother Bhagavati. You must protect us always.

17. She is the eight Vasus.

She is the eleven Rudras.

She is the twelve Aditis.

She is the totality of the Gods, both those who drink the soma and those who drink ghee.

She is the Yatus, Asuras, Rakshasas, Pishachas, Yakshas and Siddhas.

She is the Three Gunas.

She is the embodiment of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra.

She is Prajapati, Indra and Manava.

She is the planets, stars and constellations.

She is all the measures of time.

To her, the sin-destroyer, the bestower of the enjoyment of moksha, to that Goddess who is the eternal, victorious purifier, to that protector, that giver of peace, to her, she who is peace personified, I offer my eternal devotions.

18. O Adikara, the sincere worshipper, participating in pujas to the gods, attains complete yoga through you: the Om, that causal seed-sound.

19. Those who meditate, with restrained pure minds, on this one syllable science of sound, attain supreme bliss in the Ocean of knowledge.

20. (The next verse is a coded description of the concluding bija mantra which pleases the Devi to bestow the supreme bliss on the speaker)

“Aim hrīm klīm chamundāyai vicce.”

21. To the three-eyed Devi who dwells in the heart-lotus, shining bright as the morning sun, clothed in red, holding the noose and goad and with her third and fourth hands in the giving and protecting posture, emitting cool vibrations and satisfying the desires of the bhaktas.

22. We bow to you, Mahadevi, awesome destroyer, who eliminates mighty obstacles, and whose form is compassion.

23. She whose form Brahma and others know not is therefore called “Unknown”.

She whose limits are not found is therefore called “Limitless”.

She whose meaning is unknown is therefore said to be “Without meaning”.

She whose birth is unknown is therefore called “Unborn”.

She is alone but found everywhere: she is therefore called “One”.

She is one but assumes many forms so she is called “Not alone.”

Therefore she is called:

“Ajňeya-ananta-lakshya-ajaika naikā”.

24. Among the mantras She is the original sound.

In words She is the essence of knowledge.

In knowledge she is beyond understanding by the mind.

She is the shunya state of deep meditation and she is the witness to that state.

She is Durga by nature.

There is not anything beyond Her.

25. I who am fearful of destruction, I bow to Durga who is inaccessible to the mind. She is the one who destroys our difficulties, the one who ferries us across the sea of illusion.

Om twameva sakshat Sri Mataji, Sri Adi shakti, Sri Nirmala Devi, namoh, namah.