Achyutashatakam

Composed by Vedanta Desika. Obeisances to the Lord, the Master of the thirty demigods, Truthful (trustworthy) to His servants, Achyuta, the steady Light, who is like a Tamala tree on the banks of the Garuda river and the unique supreme Elephant on the Aushadha mountain of Ahindranagara.

O Lord, who remains true to Your servants! This hymn of praise, embodying the graceful speech of Sarasvati (wife of Svayambhu Brahma), is sung by me, a child, like the speech of a caged parrot; please accept it and bestow Your grace upon me.

O Lord, who is True for Your servants! May even my impure speech become purified in the light of the moon of Your glory, just as ordinary water becomes pure upon merging with the stream of the Ganges.

O Devaraja! May this ignorant or childlike hymn of praise, established amidst the revered Vedas, duly adorn Your divine assembly.

O Achyuta! Seated on the throne of our preceptors' tongues, expounding the Supreme Truth, You dispel our ignorance.

O Achyuta! You shine brightly in the hearts of the gurus like the full moon upon the waves of the Ganges. But You do not abide even for a moment in a mind clouded by attachment and aversion, just as a swan does not dwell in muddy water.

O Lord, true to those who take refuge in You! Though You are understood only through the scriptures, Your glory was clearly revealed before the gopis. You are easily accessible to devoted hearts, yet remain far away from those in doubt.

O Lord, true to those who surrender! Free from all flaws, the embodiment of Truth, Knowledge, and Bliss, and transcending all three kinds of limitations (space, time, and matter), Your glory is sung by hundreds of Upanishads.

O Lord of Ahindranagara, resplendent with faultless light! You perform all actions yet are created by no one; You establish all yet are established by no one; You destroy all yet are never destroyed.

O Achyuta! Though subtler than an atom, Your power to sustain the entire universe is infinite. Therefore, You are heard to be pervasive in every object and unimpeded everywhere.

O Achyuta! Situated in the rule of sustaining, controlling, and owning everything, You are the soul of all bodies (Sarvatanu). It is heard in the Vedas that You alone, revealing Yourself in various forms of cause and effect, are everything.

O Achyuta of wondrous power! Making Purusha (individual soul) and Prakriti (nature) Your body, You become the material cause of this world. And by Your own divine resolve, You also become its efficient cause.

O Achyuta! Just as water is the common cause for the growth of seeds with various qualities, Your divine play (Leela) is the common cause for creation. The differences among beings, from Brahma down to immobile objects, are determined by their own karma.

O Achyuta! All male beings are Your divine manifestation, and all female beings are forms of Lakshmi. There is no one superior to both of You. When Lakshmi Herself belongs to You, what need be said of others!

O Lord! Truly, there is no one equal to You or superior to You. You alone are the refuge of all the worlds. This indeed is the essence of knowledge. Realizing this, anxiety regarding deities other than the Supreme Lord is meaningless.

O Lord of Phanindrapura (Lord Devanatha)! Your command possesses an inviolable power even over prominent deities like Brahma. In those whom You protect, its fruit manifests clearly and abundantly.

O Dasasatya (ever true to Your devotees)! All rules and rites are performed aiming at You alone. The gods receive through You alone the food consecrated through the meditation of the brahmans invited to the Sraddha ceremony.

O Achyuta! If You, being worshipped in this manner, were not ever-present in the heavenly realm, who would bestow the fruits of actions performed across various kalpas?

O Natasatya (the embodiment of truth to those who bow before You)! United with Sri Lakshmi, who resembles a golden creeper, You bestow all desired fruits like the Kalpavriksha (wish-fulfilling tree), and with Your cool shade, You dispel the three kinds of miseries of the three worlds.

O Natasatya! You alone are the supreme goal of all Agamas (scriptures), the inner soul of all deities, the bestower of all fruits, and truly equal to all humanity.

Thus, O Dasasatya, who are equal to all, established in truth, and eternally complete...