All Glories to the Chanting of Sri Krsna’s Holy Names

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Krsna Kirtana Songs est. 2001                                                                                                                                                 www.kksongs.org

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Song Name: All Glories to the Chanting of Sri Krsna’s Holy Names

Official Name: Siksastakam

Author: Dravida Dasa

Book Name: None

Language: English

LYRICS:

(1A)

All glories to the chanting of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s Holy Names!,

Which easily extinguishes saṁsāra’s blazing flames

By polishing the lust-encrusted mirror of the heart.

That chanting is the waxing moon that knows the secret art

Of causing the white lotus of good fortune to unfurl

Its petals far and wide throughout this bleak and blighted world.

Of transcendental knowledge, which will take us to life’s goal,

The chanting of the name of Kṛṣṇa is the life and soul.

(1B)

The ocean of ecstatic bliss floods far beyond its bounds

Wherever Kṛṣṇa’s merciful and mystic Name resounds.

Indeed, whenever Kṛṣṇa’s Names are sung in congregation,

At every step one tastes a joy that knows no limitation.

So hear with great attention as I earnestly proclaim,

Just bathe your consciousness by chanting Kṛṣṇa’s Holy Name!

By transcendental potency that Name will surely bless

You with pure love for Kṛṣṇa and the end of all distress.

(2)

“Kṛṣṇa,” “Govinda,” and “Keśava,” too—

Your Names have no end, and in each of them You

Have invested Your potencies, leaving none out.

Whenever we want, we can chant them without

The slightest restriction of time or of place.

O Lord, who can fathom Your infinite grace?

Yet I am so wretched, devoid of all shame,

That I haven’t developed a taste for Your Name.

(3)

More humble than a blade of grass, more tol’rant than a tree,

To think “All praise belongs to others, none belongs to me”—

These qualities attract the Lord to bless one with the power

To chant His Name incessantly until the final hour.

(4)

Wealth and women, followers, the fruits of mundane piety,

Liberation from this world of limitless anxiety—

For Me, O Lord, such common goals have not the slightest worth:

Let Me serve You purely now and in each future birth.

(5)

Your servant for eternity, I lost My true identity

And fell into this horrid sea of birth and death, O Lord.

O Nanda’s son, please hear My plea: By Your sweet grace consider Me

A speck of dust upon Your lotus feet forevermore.

(6)

Tears streaming from My eyes, My voice choked with bliss,

The hairs upon My body standing up in happiness—

When will all these signs of rapture decorate My limbs

As I chant your Holy Name, the monarch of all hymns?

(7)

Every moment drags on for a million years or more;

From the rain clouds of My eyes the tears in torrents pour;

This whole creation’s nothing but a vast and joyless void—

O Govinda! By Your absence I am being destroyed!

(8A)

Let Mādhava embrace this maid who’s fallen at His feet,

Or let Him trample Me, or My most ardent hopes defeat

By never giving Me a chance to see Him anywhere,

Thus shattering My heart and plunging Me into despair.

(8B)

You see, He is a reckless libertine and not a saint;

So let Him act in any way He likes, without restraint.

Yet though His cruel and crooked ways may cause Me constant woe,

Kṛṣṇa is the only Lord My heart shall ever know.

(9)

These eight essential verses Lord Caitanya wrote to teach

The practice and the goal of chanting Kṛṣṇa’s Holy Name.

Day by day, whoever chants or hears this hymn will reach

A little closer to perfection, spotless Kṛṣṇa-prem.

REMARKS/EXTRA INFORMATION:

This is the English translation of the song “Ceto Darpana Marjanam (Sri Siksastakam).”

UPDATED: October 1, 2015