Sri Jagaddhatri Stotram

Today, I remember with nostalgia the wonderful Sri Jagaddhatri Puja held every year at Ramakrishna Mission TB Sanatorium in Ranchi District. By Her grace, I had the best moments of my life by organising for twelve years, this mammoth function where more than twenty thousand people were given lunch prasad! Many devotees requested me for the Jagaddhatri Stotram which I reproduce below with English Transliteration. By reading this Stotram, the grace of Divine Mother Sri Jagaddhatri will be ours. Earlier this Blog has published two posts on Mother Jagaddhatri. Links are given below:

Joyous Jagaddhatri

Magnanimous Mother

श्री जगद्धात्री स्तोत्रम्

आधाररूपे चाधेये धृतिरूपे धुरन्धरे ।
ध्रुवे ध्रुवपदे धीरे जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ १॥
शवाकारे शक्तिरूपे शक्तिस्थे शक्तिविग्रहे ।
शक्ताचारप्रिये देवि जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ २॥
जयदे जगदानदे जगदेकप्रपूजिते ।
जय सर्वगते दुर्गे जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ ३॥
सूक्ष्मातिसूक्ष्मरूपे च प्राणापानादिरूपिणि ।
भावाभावस्वरूपे च जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ ४॥
कालाधिरूपे कालेशे कालाकालविभेदिनि ।
सर्वस्वरूपे सर्वज्ञे जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ ५॥
महाविघ्ने महोत्साहे महामाये वरप्रदे ।
प्रपञ्चसारे साध्वीशे जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ ६॥
आगम्ये जगतामाद्ये माहेश्वरि वराङ्गने ।
अशेषरूपे रूपस्थे जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ ७॥
तीर्थयज्ञ-तपोदान-य्योगसारे जगन्मयि ।
त्वमेव सर्वं सर्वस्थे जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ ८॥
दयारूपे दयादृष्टे दयार्द्रे दुःखमोचनि ।
सर्वापत्तारिके दुर्गे जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ ९॥
आगम्यधाम-धामस्थे महायोगीश-हृत्पुरे ।
अमेयभावकूटस्थे जगद्धात्रि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ १०॥

इति श्रीजगद्धात्रीस्तोत्रं सम्पूर्णम् ।

Sri Jagaddhatri Stotram

AdhArarUpe chAdheye dhRRitirUpe dhurandhare | 
dhruve dhruvapade dhIre jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 1 ||
shavAkAre shaktirUpe shaktisthe shaktivigrahe |
shAktAchAra priye devi jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 2 ||
jayade jagadAnande jagadeka prapUjjite |
jaya sarvagate durge jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 3 ||
sUkShmAti sukShmarUpe cha prANapAnAdi rUpiNi |
bhAvAbhAva svarUpe cha jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 4 ||
kAlAdirUpe kAleshe kAlAkAla vibhedini |
sarvasvarUpe sarvaGYe jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 5 ||
mahAvighne mahotsAhe mahAmAye varaprade |
prapanchasAre sAdhvIshe jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 6 ||
agamye jagatAmAdhye mAheshvari varA~Ngane |
asheSha rUpe rUpasthe jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 7 ||
tIrtha yaGYa tapodAna yogasAre jaganmayi |
tvameva sarvaM sarvasthe jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 8 ||
dayArUpe dayAdRRiShTe dayArdra duHkhamochani |
sarvApattArike durge jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 9 ||
agamyadhAma dhAmasthe mahAyogisha-hRRitpure |
ameyabhAva kUtasthe jagaddhAtri namo.astu te || 10 ||  

iti Sri Jagaddhatri stotram sampoornam |

Transliteration courtesy: Subhodeep Mukhopadhyay

A few snaps of Sri Jagadddhatri Puja of this year 2018 at Ramakrishna Mission TB Sanatorium, Ranchi 
Photos Courtesy: Debu Bhowmik, Ranchi

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“Exit of Ego”

“Exit of Ego”
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On Sunday, the 28th October brother monk Swami Shantatmananda requested me to deliver a Talk on the “Exit of Ego”. The Sarada Auditorium at the New Delhi Centre was almost packed to full. Without going into intricacies of Vedantic view of Ego called Ahamkara, I chose to talk on four incidents – two from the recent past and two from the distant past. The first was about Late Swami Ritajananda Ji Maharaj, the Head of our Paris centre in the past – how the blooming ego could be nipped in the bud. The second was about Sister Nivedita – how the ego could be kept under control. The third was about Sri Hanuman Ji – how the ego was absolutely not allowed to raise its ugly head. The fourth was about Divine Mother Jagaddhatri – how the ego could be transformed by the knowledge of the Doer.
Do not worry if the Ego is present all the time and stubborn to exit;  “let the rascal ego remain as a servant” was the solution of Sri Ramakrishna!
This lecture can be heard here:

A few snaps of that evening below in a slideshow:

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Joyous Jagaddhatri

Sri Lalita Sahasranama in its 173 verse speaks of Goddess Tripurasundari as Jagaddhatri
Vishvamaataa jagaddhaatri vishaalaakshi viraagini
Pragalbhaa paramodaaraa paraamodaa manomayi 
Vishvamaataa: Who is the Mother of the Universe,  Jagaddhaatri:  Who is the holder of the universe, Vishaalaakshi: Who has large eyes, Viraagini: Who is utterly passionless, Pragalbhaa: Who is surprisingly daring, Paramodaara: Who is supremely generous, Manomayi: Who is all mentation.

Divine Mother Sri Sri Jagaddhatri in full regalia - clay image used for worship at Ranchi Ramakrishna Mission TB Sanatorium, Courtesy: Raju

Today is navami tithi when Sri Sri Jagaddhatri puja is performed in the eastern parts of India. After the Master’s puja this morning I was immersed in the thoughts on Ma Jagaddhatri. There is a beautiful hymn on Her which when repeated gives an elevating experience. To my heart’s content I chanted this Jagaddhatri stotram.

In the Ramakrishna tradition, Jayarambati, where Holy Mother Sarada Devi was born, this puja was started. I wrote earlier about the famous Jagaddhatri puja in Ranchi Sanatorium with the title Magnanimous Mother wherein I gave the mythological backround and how it all began at the Sanatorium where TB patients are treated. It is indeed interesting how this charming puja began at Jayarambati itself and how Holy Mother was involved in it. I reproduce some extracts from Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi written by Swami Gambhiranandaji Maharaj.

Once, at the time of Kali worship, Nava Mukherji, as a result of some village feud, did not accept the gifts of rice and other things from Shyamasundari Devi, which were her contribution to the joint endeavour at worship. She had gathered together these things with the greatest effort and utmost sincerity; but another man’s cruelty now deprived her of the chance of offering them to the Deity. Her sorrow was so painful that she spent a sleepless night and went on repeating, ‘This rice I prepared for Kali, and this has not been accepted! Who will now eat this? Indeed it is Kali’s rice, and nobody else can eat it!’ Then a Deity appeared to her in a dream and awakened her by patting her body. Opening her eyes, Shyamasundari Devi saw the Deity, red in hue, sitting near the door with one leg placed over the other, who said, ‘Why do you weep? I shall eat Kali’s rice. Why do you worry?’ Shyamasundari inquired, ‘Who are you?’ The Deity replied, ‘I am the Mother of the Universe: I shall accept your worship as Jagad-dhatri.’

Next morning, Shyamasundari Devi said to the Holy Mother, ‘Dear Sarada, who is that Deity with red hue, resting one leg on the other?’ The Mother said, ‘She is Jagad-dhatri, to be sure.’ Grandmother then said, ‘I shall worship jagad-dhatri.’ She went on talking about that worship off and on. She secured from the Vishwas family about 400 lbs. of paddy. It was then raining incessantly. Grandmother said, ‘Mother, how shall I worship you? I can’t so much as dry the paddy.’ But through the grace of’ the Goddess it so happened, that though it rained all around, grandmother’s mat, on which the paddy was spread, had plenty of sunshine; and she got it husked and converted, into rice. The clay image of the Deity had to be painted after drying it under fire. Uncle Prasanna went to Dakshineswar to invite Sri Ramakrishna for the celebration. But he said, ‘Mother will come, aye! Mother will come! ‘That’s. excellent. But weren’t you in very straitened circumstances, my dear?’ Uncle replied, ‘You have to come, I have come to take you.’ The Master said, ‘I am as good as already there. It’s fine. Go, and have the worship. It’s fine indeed! It will do you good.’ The worship was duly performed. Many people from far and near were invited and heartily fed. The rice was enough for all. At the time of the immersion of the image grandmother whispered in the ears of the Goddess, ‘My dear, Jagai, do come again next year. I shall be making arrangements for you all the year round.’

Next year, grandmother said to the Holy Mother, Look here, dear, you too should contribute something; my Jagai (Jagad-dhatri) will be worshipped.’ The Mother remonstrated, ‘I can’t bear all that trouble. It’s enough that you had the worship once; why rake up troubles again? There’s no need; I can’t do it.’ Then she saw three figures in a dream at night – Jagad-dhatri, with her maids Jaya and Vijaya – who said, ‘Well, shall we go then?’ ‘Who may you be?’ the Mother queried in surprise. I am Jagad-dhatri,’ said the Deity. At this the Mother said in great consternation, ‘No, where will you go? Do stay on, I didn’t ask you to go.’ Thenceforth the worship continued uninterruptedly for some years. The Mukherji family had not then enough hands to help in the festival. So the Holy Mother had to be present every year for scouring the utensils and doing some other odd jobs.

As the day of immersion of the image on the first occasion happened to be a Thursday sacred to the goddess of fortune, the Holy Mother objected to bidding farewell to Jagad-dhatri on that day. The next day was the last day of the month, and the next the first day of another month. Hence the immersion took place on the fourth day.

The worship in the first four years was performed in the name of Shyamasundari Devi, in the second four, in the name of the Holy Mother, and in the next four in the name of her uncle Nilmadhav. The Holy Mother felt no need for continuing the worship after twelve years, because all had had their names formally proposed as worshippers. That very night after she had made the declaration, the Deity appeared to her in a dream and intimated that the family of Madhu Mukherji’s aunt had it in mind to worship Her, and asked her three times, ‘Shall I go then?’ The Holy Mother realized that Jagad-dhatri wanted to leave her after getting her affirmation; and so she took hold of the feet of the Deity and said eagerly, ‘I won’t let you go any more, I shall worship you every year.’ With this determination in mind, she later on secured about three and a half acres of paddy land with which she made a trust for the continuance of the worship. With the income from this land and some contributions from devotees, the authorities of the Ramakrishna Math, Belur, perform the worship every year with due pomp, at the Mother’s temple at Jayrambati. And as in the first year, so now too, the worship continues for three successive days – on the first day with all ceremonials but on succeeding days not so elaborately as was the custom during Mother’s lifetime. One on each side of the main Deity Jagad-dhatri, are placed images of Jaya and Vijaya. The devotees of the Holy Mother believe that as the Mother was none other than Jagad-dhatri Herself, when the latter is worshipped the Holy Mother too is adored as a matter of course.

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Joyous Jagaddhatri Puja

I am pleased to re-date the following post:

Today is the Navami tithi. Ranchi Sanatorium where I was there from 1995 for long 12 years, is celebrating Sri Sri Jagaddhatri Puja today and tomorrow. This is a joyous annual puja participated with unheard of enthusiasm by more than 20,000 people mostly from rural tribal areas surrounding our Sanatorium. This Puja, began in a small scale, limited only among the patients and staff initially, has grown to become of late an harbinger of communal harmony with intense social interaction where the crowd throngs and mingles and where there is no distinction of caste, creed, language and all become just ‘children of Divine Mother’.

Swami Shantatmananda
Swami Shantatmananda

Albeit nostalgic apart, I cannot but think of Swami Shantatmananda, the present Head of our New Delhi centre, who used to come every year for performing puja from Belur Math. His one-pointed devotion to Mother Jagaddhatri and his keen sense of dedication with wonderful calmness was a treat to those who would sit hours together in that surcharged atmosphere watching the puja from sunrise to sunset.

It is pertinent to note that this memorable puja was indeed started by one in-patient of this Sanatorium in 1958. He was late Bhupati Bose from Howrah. It is said that he had a divine aadesh (Order) in dream one day for doing Devi Puja. The then Head Maharaj late Swami Vedantanandaji rejected his offer saying that doing Durga Puja in a hospital setup was not a joke. But Bhupati, distressed at the decision, prayed to the Mother and sought excuse for his inability to carry out Her wish.

Who can eventually stop the Divine Will? He again dreamt of the Mother who said that there was one-day Puja also available! On hearing about the second dream, Vedantanandaji was ready to reconsider his decision and acceded to the patient’s request for Jagaddhatri worship. Bhupati himself prepared the clay image beautifully for consecutive two years. The entire staff and all the in-patients stood together in completing the one-day Puja with great devotion.

Jagaddhatri clay image used for worship at Ranchi Ramakrishna Mission TB Sanatorium
Jagaddhatri in full regalia - clay image used for worship at Ranchi Ramakrishna Mission TB Sanatorium

As per ancient pauranik lore of the Hindu scriptures, soon after the victory over Mahishasur the Devatas became highly egoistic. They thought that because of lending Durga their weapons, the mighty asuras were vanquished. To make them understand that the primordial power is alone behind every action, the Brahman appeared before the Devatas in the form of effulgent Yaksha.

Bewildered by its presence one by one the Devatas approached Yaksha. First the god of wind Vayu. The Yaksha asked him what he could do. Vayu replied that he could throw away huge trees, tumble high mountains. The Yaksha then placed a small grass and asked him to move it. Vayu utilised all his powers but lo! he could not even displace it. So also the god of fire Agni, could not even burn it. So also the god of water Varuna, could not even wet it. Likewise one by one the Devatas failed. Ultimately the Lord of all gods, Indra came and immediately understood the inexplicable Power and humbly expressed his desire to know.

And it dawned on them that their powers were in reality not their own but derived from the supreme power who as protecting Mother holds the entire creation and therefore called Jagaddhatri. Anybody who worships Jagaddhatri becomes absolutely egoless and is a true servant of the world which is nothing but a manifestation of the Brahman as Sri Ramakrishna had realised.

If you want to know more about Jagaddhatri Puja at the Sanatorium with some of the fascinating pictures and a graphic account, please read here.

And if you are interested in some more other pictures of Jagaddhatri, please visit this blog.

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From The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

(To M.) “One must accept the forms of God.  Do you know the meaning of the image of Jagaddhatri? She is the Bearer of the Universe.  Without her support and protection the universe would fall from its place and be destroyed.  The Divine Mother, Jagaddhatri, reveals Herself in the heart of one who can control the mind, which may be compared to an elephant.”

RĀKHĀL : “The mind is a mad elephant.”

MASTER: “Therefore the lion, the carrier of the Divine Mother, keeps it under control.”

Sri Ramakrishna adoration by Swami Abhedananda
Sri Ramakrishna adoration by Swami Abhedananda - Courtesy Dr S Adhinarayanan

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