Om ! O Devas, may we hear with our ears what is auspicious;
May we see with our eyes what is auspicious, O ye worthy of worship !
May we enjoy the term of life allotted by the Devas,
Praising them with our body and limbs steady !
May the glorious Indra bless us !
May the all-knowing Sun bless us !
May Garuda, the thunderbolt for evil, bless us !
May Brihaspati grant us well-being !
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !
Chapter One
1. Om namah. I offer my respectful obeisances to Sri Krishna, whose form is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss, who is the rescuer from distress, who is understood by Vedanta, who is the supreme spiritual master, and who is the witness in everyone’s heart.
2. Om. Some sages said to the demigod Brahma: “Who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Whom does death fear? By knowing whom does everything else become known? Who created this world.
3. Brahma replied to them: “Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Death fears Govinda. By understanding Gopijanavallabha everything becomes known. By pronouncing the word “svaha” the Personality of Godhead created the world.
4. They then said: “Who is Krishna? Who is Govinda? Who is Gopijanavallabha? What is Svaha?”
5. To them Brahma said: “Krishna means He who delivers from sin, Govinda means He who is famous on the earth, in the Vedas, and among the surabhi cows, Gopijanavallabha means He who enchants the gopis, and Svaha means the potency of the Supreme. All these names refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
6. One who meditates on this Supreme Personality of Godhead, glorifies Him, and worships Him, becomes liberated. He becomes liberated.
7. They said: What is His form? What is His glorification? How does one worship Him? Please describe this to us
8-9. Brahma said: He appears like a cowherd boy. His complexion is like a monsoon cloud. He stays under a desire-tree. The following verses describe Him.
10. Meditating with all his heart on Lord Krishna, whose eyes are handsome lotus flowers, whose complexion is a monsoon cloud, whose garments are lightning, who has two arms, who is rich in transcendental knowledge, who wears a garland of forest flowers, who is the supreme controller, who is surrounded by gopas, gopis, and surabhi cows, who rests under a sura-druma tree, who is decorated with splendid ornaments, who stands in the middle of a red lotus flower, and who is served by breezes that have touched the Yamuna’s waves, a person becomes free from repeated birth and death.
11. This mantra should be repeatedly chanted: “klim krishnaya govindaya gopijanavallabhaya svaha”.
12. By chanting these five names one attains the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose potencies are manifested as the heavenly planets, the earth, sun, moon, and fire.
13. A person who even once chants the mantra “Klim krsnaya govindaya gopijanavallabha svaha” quickly attains the association of Lord Krishna. He does not attain any other result.
14. Devotional service to Lord Krishna is performed when the heart no longer desires any material benefit to be obtained in this life or the next. This is freedom from the bonds of karma.
15. Many brahmanas worship Krishna. Many worship eternal Govinda. Gopijanavallabha maintains the worlds. Powerful Svaha moves the universe.
16. Although originally one, air becomes the five life-airs in the bodies of all living entities. In the same way, for the benefit of the world Lord Krishna appears as these five words.
17. They said: Please describe the worship of Govinda, the Supersoul, who maintains everything.
18. Brahma said: The Lord’s altar should be a golden lotus with eight petals. Within that lotus should be placed two triangles and the mantra klim krsnaya namah, the Kama-gayatri (klim krsnaya govindaya gopijanavallabhaya svaha), and the ananga-gayatri (kamadevaya sarva-jana-priyaya sarva-jana-sammohanaya jvala jvala prajvala prajvala sarva-janasya hrdayam me vasam kuru kuru svaha) should be written there. then anga should be offered with the sula-matra (astraya phat). Then one should worship the Lord’s expansions, beginning with Rukmini, the devotees headed by Indra, the devotees headed by King Vasudeva, the devotees headed by Arjuna, and the devotees headed by Indranidhi.
19. He who at sunrise, noon and sunset, makes various offerings to the Deity, obtains everything. He obtains everything.
20. In this matter there are the following verses: Lord Krishna is the worshipable, all-pervading supreme controller, and although He is one, He manifests in many forms. They who are intelligent worship Him as He stands on His altar. They, and not others, attain eternal happiness.
21. The brahmanas, who worship, as He stands on His altar, the one greatest among the eternals and greatest among conscious persons, the one who fulfils the desires of the many, they, and not others, attain perfection.
22. To they who always diligently worship Lord Visnu’s transcendental form, the Lord, in His original form as a cowherd boy, shows His lotus feet.
23. It was Krishna who in the beginning instructed Brahma in Vedic knowledge and who disseminated Vedic knowledge in the past. They who desire liberation surrender to Him, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who grants transcendental knowledge to His devotees.
24. To they who chant the five-word mantra with om and govinda (om krsnaya govindaya gopijanavallabha svaha) the Lord reveals His own form. Therefore, to attain transcendental peace, they who desire liberation should regularly chant this mantra.
25. From this five-word mantra have come all other govinda-mantras in human society, including the ten-syllable govinda-mantra chanted by Indra’s followers and by they who desire opulences.
26. They asked: Please tell us the nature of this mantra.
27-28. Brahma said: I continually glorified the Lord and meditated upon Him for millions of years, and at last I was able to understand the transcendental form of the Lord as Sri Krishna, in the dress of a cowherd boy. With devotion in my heart I bowed down before Him. He gave me the eighteen-syllable mantra to be used for the activity of creation, and then He disappeared.
29. When I desired to create the universe He again appeared before me, showing me in these syllables the universe that was to be.
30. From the letter k, I created water, from the letter l, earth, from the letter i, fire, from the letter m, the moon, and from the entire word klim, the sun. From the word krsnaya, I created ether, from govindaya, air, from gopijanavallabha, knowledge and the surabhi cows, and from svaha, men, women, and everything else. Everything else.
31. By worshipping Him, Shiva became free from illusion, and by chanting this mantra in a solitary place, he attained the Lord.
32. The demigods gaze at Visnu’s abode, which is like a splendid sun in the sky.
33. Therefore one should regularly chant this mantra. One should regularly chant this mantra.
34. Some have said that from the first word of this mantra earth was created, from the second word water, from the third fire, from the fourth air, and from the fifth ether. To attain liberation one should chant this five-word Vaishnava mantra, which reveals Lord Krishna.
35. About this are the following verses: One should chant this mantra, of which from the first word the element earth came, from the second word water, from the third fire, from the fourth air, and from the fifth ether.
36. By chanting this mantra Shiva entered Lord Visnu’s eternal spiritual abode.
37. That spiritual world, completely pure, uncontaminated, free from suffering, free from greed and all other vices, and identical with this five-word mantra, is manifested from Lord Vasudeva. It is not separate from Him.
38. With eloquent prayers I and the Maruts please Lord Govinda, whose form is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss, who stays under a desire tree in Vrndavana, and who is this five-word mantra.
39. Om namah. To Lord Govinda, who is the form of the universe, the creator. maintainer, and destroyer of the universe, the master of the universe, and the universe itself. I offer my respectful obeisances.
40. Obeisances to Lord Govinda, whose form is full of knowledge, whose form is full of supreme bliss, who is all-attractive, and who is the master of the gopis.
41. Obeisances to Him, His eyes lotus flowers. Obeisances to Him, garlanded with lotuses. Obeisances to Him, His navel a lotus. Obeisances to Him, the husband of the goddesses of fortune.
42. Obeisances to Lord Govinda, handsome with a peacock-feather crown, identical with Balarama, His intelligence sharp, and He the swan in the Manasa lake of the goddess of fortune’s thoughts.
43. Obeisances to Him, the death of Kamsa and his allies, the killer of Kesi and Canura, the object of worship for Siva, and the chariot-driver of Arjuna.
44. Obeisances to Him, the cowherd boy fond of playing the flute, the crusher of Kaliya, the person who walks on the Yamuna’s shore and whose earrings gracefully swing to and fro.
45. Obeisances to Sri Krishna, the protector of the surrendered souls. Obeisances to Him, the expert dancer garlanded with the gopi’s lotus glances.
46. Obeisances to Him, the death of sin, the lifter of Govardhana Hill, the end of Putana’s life, the thief of Trnavarta’s life.
47. Obeisances to Sri Krishna, decorated with a golden necklace, charming, pure, the enemy of impurity, one without a second, the greatest.
48. Be kind, O blissful one. Be kind, O Supreme Lord. O Lord, please rescue me, bitten by the snake of physical and mental pain.
49. O Krishna, O husband of Rukmini, O enchanter of the gopis, O master of the universe, please rescue me, drowning in the ocean of repeated birth and death.
50. O Kesava, O Narayana, O Govinda, O Janardana, O source of all transcendental bliss, O Lord who rescues the devotees from distress, O Madhava, please rescue me.
51. Brahma said: As I worship Him, so should you. Chanting this five-word mantra, and meditating on Lord Krishna, you will transcend the world of birth and death.
52. One who chants this five-word mantra easily attains His transcendental abode.
53. Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. Even the powerful demigods cannot approach Him.
54. Therefore, Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should meditate upon Him, glorify Him, serve Him and worship Him. Om tat sat.
