A Few Words of Gratitude and Prayer
By the grace of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, during the past one year, through a series of 38 parts we have studied with reverence, understanding and appreciation, the Divine Song Srimad Bhagavad Gita in its entirety all of which together communicate the very essence of knowledge, the Knowledge by knowing which everything else becomes known.
The seeds for this undertaking were sown by Shri Dwai, Shri Partha of www.medhjournal.com and Shri Sanjeev Nayyar of www.esamskriti.com. Manasi of Dimakh Consultants has painstakingly uploaded all the articles in just the way I would like it to be.
During the course of the sprouting and growing of the project, it has been effectively nurtured by the enlightened comments and appreciative response from a wide spectrum of the dedicated readers spread across the Globe. But for these strong foundations I am sure I would not have been able to see this humble effort reach its logical culmination. I bow myself with all humility before all these great souls who have made this endeavor possible.
In a work of this type there is bound to be some errors of omission and commission for which I am solely responsible and for which I seek pardon of the informed readers. If despite such shortcomings, the work has been found helpful the entire credit should go to Sage Veda Vyasa, the author of the Gita and Adi Sankaracharya who brought it out of the dark corners of the Mahabharata.
If the Bhagvad Gita can be called Madhura Gitam (Sweet Song), then its singer is Madhura Murthy (Sweetness Personified). Hence let us pray to that Lord of Sweetness through the popular poem Madhurashtakam by Shri Vallabhacharya and draw the curtains down.
Madhurashtakam, written in melodious lyrical Sanskrit, is easy to understand and rhythmic to recite. Ashtakam means a poem with eight stanzas. Madhurasthakam uses just one adjective, "madhuram", meaning sweet or beautiful etc., to describe the lovely attributes of Bhagavan Sri Krishna who is depicted as the master of Sweetness and Sweetness personified as also the Lord of Mathura (meaning both as a city and sweetness).
The Poem Madhurasthakam
adharam madhuram vadanam madhuram
nayanam madhuram hasitam madhuram
hrdayam madhuram gamanam madhuram
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
“His lips are sweet, His face is sweet. His eyes are sweet, His smile is sweet. His heart is sweet, His walk is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness.” (1)
vacanam madhuram caritam madhuram
vasanam madhuram valitam madhuram
calitam madhuram bhramitam madhuram
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
“His words are sweet, His character is sweet. His garments are sweet, His navel is sweet. His movement is sweet, His wanderings are sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness.” (2)
venur madhuro renur madhurah
panir-madhurah padau madhurau
nrtyam madhuram sakhyam madhuram
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
“His flute is sweet, His dust is sweet. His hands are sweet, His feet are sweet. His dancing is sweet, His friendship is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness.” (3)
gitam madhuram pitam madhuram
bhuktam madhuram suptam madhuram
rupam madhuram tilakam madhuram
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
“His singing is sweet, His yellow dress is sweet. His eating is sweet, His sleeping is sweet. His form is sweet, His tilaka is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness.” (4)
karanam madhuram taranam madhuram
haranam madhuram ramanam madhuram
vamitam madhuram samitam madhuram
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
“His activities are sweet, His liberation is sweet. His thieving is sweet, His loving sports are sweet. His offerings are sweet, His peacefulness is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness.” (5)
gunja madhura mala madhura
yamuna madhura vici madhura
salilam madhuram kamalam madhuram
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
“His gunja-mala is sweet; His flower-garland is sweet. Is Yamuna is sweet, His ripples are sweet. His water is sweet, His lotuses are sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness.” (6)
gopi madhura lila madhura
yuktam madhuram bhuktam madhuram
hrstam madhuram sistam madhuram
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
“His Gopis are sweet, His pastimes are sweet. His meeting is sweet, His food is sweet. His happiness is sweet, His etiquette is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness.” (7)
gopa madhura gavo madhura
sastir madhura srstir madhura
dalitam madhuram phalitam madhuram
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
“His cowherd boys are sweet, His cows are sweet. His herding-stick is sweet, His creation is sweet. His trampling is sweet; His fruitfulness is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness.” (8)
Harih Om Tat Sat
Sarve janaa sukhino bhavanthu