Govindashtakam (गोविन्दाष्टकम्)

I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who is truth, wisdom, eternal, stable, not ether bound and the eternal ether,
Who is happy to crawl in cow sheds, is beyond problems and is the end of problems,
Who due to illusion appears as without any form and with many forms,
And who is of the universe, consort of Lakshmi and is without any lord || 1 ||

I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who with a child like fear of Yasoda’s punishment when he ate mud,
Showed her in his open mouth visible and invisible part of fourteen worlds,
Who is the ultimate basis of the three worlds which are visible and not visible,
And who is the lord of earth and the eternal goal thereof || 2 ||

I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who killed the valorous enemies of devas, reduced the burden of earth,
Who cures the sorrow caused by the day today life,
Who is ever detached, who eats butter, who eats no food, who eats the earth,
Who shines in the mind when it is clear but cannot be revealed by anything else,
And who is peaceful, is peace and nothing else but peace || 3 ||

I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who looks after all beings in his playful form of cowherd,
Who protects those who look after cows, who playfully lifted,
The govardhana where gopis play and made gopa lads happy,
Whose name Govinda is clearly by the cows*, who has many names,
And who always is beyond the reach of the ignorant || 4 ||

I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who is present in each and every group of gopis, who appears,
In differing forms but actually is without difference.
Whose pretty form is covered by the dust raised by the hooves of cows,
Who is realized by attention and devotion in thought, who is beyond thought,
And whose greatness is determined by the gem of individual’s thought || 5 ||

I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who climbed the tree along with cloths of women taking bath in the pond,
Who wanted those who want their cloths back, to come close to the tree in the nude*,
Who destroyed sorrow and passion, who is wise, who is at the end of wisdom,
And who has a body that did not get disturbed by the senses.
* Come leaving everything || 6 ||

I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who is pretty, cause of causes, primeval, without beginning and a form of time,
Who danced again and again on the head of serpent Kaliya in the river Yamuna,
Who is black in colour, ever present in time and destroys the evil effects of Kali,
And who is the cause of the march of time from the past to the future || 7 ||

I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who in the land of Brindavan is being worshipped by crowd of worshipful devas,
Whose nectar like smile is as pretty as jasmine flower, who gives happiness to his friends,
Whose twin feet are worshipped by the heart of great and worshipful sages,
And who is the sea of good qualities which are worshipped by all || 8 ||

He who dedicates his mind to govinda by chanting the holy names,
Govinda, Achyutha, Madhava, Vishnu, Lord of Gokula and Krishna,
And reads this octet on Govinda, will get drenched by the nectar of meditation,
Get washed away from all his sins, reach the blissful world of govinda,
And attain the nectar like supreme bliss || 9 ||

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