Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Mukunda-mālā-stotra 53

mukunda-mālāḿ paṭhatāḿ narāṇāḿ

aśeṣa-saukhyaḿ labhate na kaḥ svit

samasta-pāpa-kṣayam etya dehī

prayāti viṣṇoḥ paramaḿ padaḿ tat

SYNONYMS

mukunda-mālām — this flower garland for Lord Mukunda; paṭhatām — who recite; narāṇām — among persons; aśeṣa — complete; saukhyam — happiness; labhate na — does not achieve; kaḥ svit — who at all; samasta — of all; pāpa — sins; kṣayam — the eradication; etya — obtaining; dehī — an embodied being; prayāti — proceeds; viṣṇoḥ — of Lord Viṣṇu; paramam — supreme; padam — to the abode; tat — that.

TRANSLATION

Who among those who recite this Mukunda-mālā will not achieve complete happiness? An embodied being who chants these prayers will have all his sinful reactions eradicated and proceed straight to the supreme abode of Lord Viṣṇu.

PURPORT

Following the śāstric tradition, King Kulaśekhara ends his poem with an auspicious benediction for his readers. We find many such benedictions in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. For example, Canto Seven contains this statement: "Anyone who with great attention hears this narration concerning the activities of Prahlāda Mahārāja, the killing of Hiraṇyakaśipu, and the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nṛsiḿhadeva, surely reaches the spiritual world, where there is no anxiety" (Bhāg. 7.10.47).

The Vaiṣṇava poet's blessing upon the reader is not merely a literary form. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Mukunda-mālā-stotra can deliver full benedictions to any receptive reader and send him back home, back to Godhead. One need only consider the elevated topics King Kulaśekhara has covered in his poem. For example, he has often mentioned that the holy names of the Lord can save us from saḿsāra. And he has exhorted us to call out to Lord Kṛṣṇa for protection. Indeed, the Mukunda-mālā-stotra is filled with friendly advice to chant Kṛṣṇa's names, bow down before Him, and serve Him with all our senses and mind. King Kulaśekhara has advised us to become a servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord. All these statements are actually injunctions directly from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the śāstras. King Kulaśekhara has repeated them in his own voice and with his own convictions, but his prayers have the authority of the Supreme Lord behind them.

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda chose these potent verses for rendering as The Prayers of King Kulaśekhara. He began translating them into English for wide distribution through his magazine, Back to Godhead. It will be our good fortune to go on hearing these verses in earnest, to sing them repeatedly, and to study and remember them. As followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we will be particularly inclined to remember Text 33:

kṛṣṇa tvadīya-pada-pańkaja-pañjarāntam

adyaiva me viśatu mānasa-rāja-haḿsaḥ

prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ

kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaraṇaḿ kutas te

"O Lord Kṛṣṇa, at this moment let the royal swan of my mind enter the tangled stems of the lotus of Your feet. How will it be possible for me to remember You at the time of death, when my throat will be choked up with mucus, bile, and air?"

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari