The Ninth Book. Chapter 5
The Ninth Book
Chapter V
On Sarasvat Stotra By Yjavalkya
p. 824
1-5 Nryana said :-- O Nrada! I now describe the Stotra (hymn) of Sarasvat Dev, yielding, all desires that Yjavalkya, the best of the Risis recited in days of yore to Her. The Muni Yajavalkya forgot all the Vedas out of the curse of Guru and with a very sad heart went to the Sun, the great merit-giving place. There he practised austerities for a time when the Lolkhya Sun became visible to him, when, being overpowered by great sorrow, he began to cry repeatedly; and then he sang hymns to him. Then Bhagavn Srya Deva became pleased and taught him all the Vedas with their Amgas (limbs) and said :-- "O Child! Now sing hymns to Sarasvat Dev that you get back your memory." Thus saying, the Sun disappeared. The Muni Yjavalkya finished his bath and with his heart full of devotion began to sing hymns to the Vg Dev, the Goddess of Speech.
6-32. Yjavalkya said :-- "Mother! Have mercy on me. By Guru's curse, my memory is lost; I am now void of learning and have become powerless; my sorrow knows no bounds. Give me knowledge, learning, memory, power to impart knowledge to disciples, power to compose books, and also good disciples endowed with genius and Pratibh (ready wit). So that in the council of good and learned men my intelligence and power of argument and judgment be fully known. Whatever I lost by my bad luck, let all that come back to my heart and be renewed as if the sprouts come again out of the heaps of ashes. O Mother! Thou art of the nature of Brahm, superior to all; Thou art of the nature of Light, Eternal; Thou art the presiding Deity of all the branches of learning. So I bow down again and again to Thee. O Mother! The letters Anusvra, Visarga and Chandravindu that are affixed, Thou art those letters. So obeisance to Thee! O Mother! Thou art the exposition (Vykhy) of the S'stras; Thou art the
p. 825
presiding Deity of all the expositions and annotations. Without Thee no mathematician can count anything. So Thou art the numbers to count time; Thou art the S'akti by which Siddhntas (definite conclusions) are arrived at; Thus Thou dost remove the errors of men. So again and again obeisance to Thee. O Mother! Thou art the S'akti, memory, knowledge, intelligence, Pratibh, and imagination (Kalpan). So I bow down again and again to Thee. Sanatkumra fell into error and asked Brahm for solution. He became unable to solve the difficulties and remained speechless like a dumb person. Then S'r Krisna, the Highest Self arriving there, said :-- O Prajpati! Better praise and sing hymns to the Goddess of speech; then your desires will be fulfilled. Then the four-faced Brahm advised by the Lord, praised the Dev Sarasvat; and, by Her grace, arrived at a very nice Siddhnta (conclusion). One day the goddess Earth questioned one doubt of Her to Ananta Deva, when He being unable to answer, remained silent like a dumb person. At last He became afraid; and advised by Kas'yapa, praised Thee when He resolved the doubt and came to a definite conclusion. Veda Vysa once went to Vlmki and asked him about some Stras of the Purnas when the Muni Vlmki got confounded and remembered Thee, the Mother of the world. When by Thy Grace, the Light flashed within him and his error vanished. Thereby he became able to solve the question. Then Vysadeva, born of the parts of S'r Krisna, heard about the Purna Stras from Vlmki's mouth and came to know about Thy glory. He then went to Puskara Trtha and became engaged in worshipping Thee, the Giver of Peace, for one hundred years. Then Thou didst become pleased and grant him the boon when he ascended to the rank of the Kavndra (Indra amongst the poets). He then made the classification of the Vedas and composed the eighteen Purnas. When Sad S'iva was questioned on some spiritual knowledge by Mahendra, He thought of Thee for a moment and then answered. Once Indra asked Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas, about S'abda S'stra (Scriptures on sound). He became unable to give any answer. So he went to Puskara Trtha and worshipped Thee for a thousand years according to the Deva Measure and he became afterwards able to give instructions on S'abda S'stra for one thousand divine years to Mahendra. O Sures'var! Those Munis that give education to their disciples or those that commence their own studies remember Thee before they commence their works respectively. The Munndras, Manus, men, Daityendras, and Immortals, Brahm, Visnu and Mahesa all worship Thee and Sing hymns to Thee. Visnu ultimately becomes inert when He goes on praising Thee by His thousand mouths. So Mah Deva becomes when
p. 826
he praises by His five mouths; and so Brahm by His four mouths. When great personages so desist, then what to speak of me, who is an ordinary mortal having one mouth only!" Thus saying, the Maharsi Yjavalkya, who had observed fasting, bowed down to the Dev Sarasvat with great devotion and began to cry frequently. Then the Mahmy Sarasvat, of the nature of Light could not hide Herself away. She became visible to him and said "O Child! You be good Kavndra (Indra of the poets)." Granting him this boon, She went to Vaikuntha. He becomes a good poet, eloquent, and intelligent like Brihaspati who reads this stotra of Sarasvat by Yjavalkya. Even if a great illiterate reads this Sarasvat stotra for one year, he becomes easily a good Pundit, intelligent, and a good poet.
Here ends the Fifth Chapter of the Ninth Book on Sarasvat stotra by Yjavalkya in S'r Mad Dev Bhgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vysa.
Chapter V
On Sarasvat Stotra By Yjavalkya
p. 824
1-5 Nryana said :-- O Nrada! I now describe the Stotra (hymn) of Sarasvat Dev, yielding, all desires that Yjavalkya, the best of the Risis recited in days of yore to Her. The Muni Yajavalkya forgot all the Vedas out of the curse of Guru and with a very sad heart went to the Sun, the great merit-giving place. There he practised austerities for a time when the Lolkhya Sun became visible to him, when, being overpowered by great sorrow, he began to cry repeatedly; and then he sang hymns to him. Then Bhagavn Srya Deva became pleased and taught him all the Vedas with their Amgas (limbs) and said :-- "O Child! Now sing hymns to Sarasvat Dev that you get back your memory." Thus saying, the Sun disappeared. The Muni Yjavalkya finished his bath and with his heart full of devotion began to sing hymns to the Vg Dev, the Goddess of Speech.
6-32. Yjavalkya said :-- "Mother! Have mercy on me. By Guru's curse, my memory is lost; I am now void of learning and have become powerless; my sorrow knows no bounds. Give me knowledge, learning, memory, power to impart knowledge to disciples, power to compose books, and also good disciples endowed with genius and Pratibh (ready wit). So that in the council of good and learned men my intelligence and power of argument and judgment be fully known. Whatever I lost by my bad luck, let all that come back to my heart and be renewed as if the sprouts come again out of the heaps of ashes. O Mother! Thou art of the nature of Brahm, superior to all; Thou art of the nature of Light, Eternal; Thou art the presiding Deity of all the branches of learning. So I bow down again and again to Thee. O Mother! The letters Anusvra, Visarga and Chandravindu that are affixed, Thou art those letters. So obeisance to Thee! O Mother! Thou art the exposition (Vykhy) of the S'stras; Thou art the
p. 825
presiding Deity of all the expositions and annotations. Without Thee no mathematician can count anything. So Thou art the numbers to count time; Thou art the S'akti by which Siddhntas (definite conclusions) are arrived at; Thus Thou dost remove the errors of men. So again and again obeisance to Thee. O Mother! Thou art the S'akti, memory, knowledge, intelligence, Pratibh, and imagination (Kalpan). So I bow down again and again to Thee. Sanatkumra fell into error and asked Brahm for solution. He became unable to solve the difficulties and remained speechless like a dumb person. Then S'r Krisna, the Highest Self arriving there, said :-- O Prajpati! Better praise and sing hymns to the Goddess of speech; then your desires will be fulfilled. Then the four-faced Brahm advised by the Lord, praised the Dev Sarasvat; and, by Her grace, arrived at a very nice Siddhnta (conclusion). One day the goddess Earth questioned one doubt of Her to Ananta Deva, when He being unable to answer, remained silent like a dumb person. At last He became afraid; and advised by Kas'yapa, praised Thee when He resolved the doubt and came to a definite conclusion. Veda Vysa once went to Vlmki and asked him about some Stras of the Purnas when the Muni Vlmki got confounded and remembered Thee, the Mother of the world. When by Thy Grace, the Light flashed within him and his error vanished. Thereby he became able to solve the question. Then Vysadeva, born of the parts of S'r Krisna, heard about the Purna Stras from Vlmki's mouth and came to know about Thy glory. He then went to Puskara Trtha and became engaged in worshipping Thee, the Giver of Peace, for one hundred years. Then Thou didst become pleased and grant him the boon when he ascended to the rank of the Kavndra (Indra amongst the poets). He then made the classification of the Vedas and composed the eighteen Purnas. When Sad S'iva was questioned on some spiritual knowledge by Mahendra, He thought of Thee for a moment and then answered. Once Indra asked Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas, about S'abda S'stra (Scriptures on sound). He became unable to give any answer. So he went to Puskara Trtha and worshipped Thee for a thousand years according to the Deva Measure and he became afterwards able to give instructions on S'abda S'stra for one thousand divine years to Mahendra. O Sures'var! Those Munis that give education to their disciples or those that commence their own studies remember Thee before they commence their works respectively. The Munndras, Manus, men, Daityendras, and Immortals, Brahm, Visnu and Mahesa all worship Thee and Sing hymns to Thee. Visnu ultimately becomes inert when He goes on praising Thee by His thousand mouths. So Mah Deva becomes when
p. 826
he praises by His five mouths; and so Brahm by His four mouths. When great personages so desist, then what to speak of me, who is an ordinary mortal having one mouth only!" Thus saying, the Maharsi Yjavalkya, who had observed fasting, bowed down to the Dev Sarasvat with great devotion and began to cry frequently. Then the Mahmy Sarasvat, of the nature of Light could not hide Herself away. She became visible to him and said "O Child! You be good Kavndra (Indra of the poets)." Granting him this boon, She went to Vaikuntha. He becomes a good poet, eloquent, and intelligent like Brihaspati who reads this stotra of Sarasvat by Yjavalkya. Even if a great illiterate reads this Sarasvat stotra for one year, he becomes easily a good Pundit, intelligent, and a good poet.
Here ends the Fifth Chapter of the Ninth Book on Sarasvat stotra by Yjavalkya in S'r Mad Dev Bhgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vysa.
