Balamukundashtakam Mantra

Verse 1:

kararavindena padaravindam

mukharavinde viniveshayantam

vatasya patrasya pute shayanam

balam mukundam manasa smarami Meaning:

His hands, lotus-like, his feet, lotus-like,

He puts his toe in his lotus-like mouth,

Lying on the fold of a banyan leaf,

That little Krishna is etched in my mind.

Verse 2:

samhritya lokan vatapatramadhye

shayanamadyantavihinarupam

sarveshvaram sarvahitavataram

balam mukundam manasa smarami Meaning:

He sketches the whole world in a small banyan leaf,

He rests formless in it, without beginning or end,

The God of all, the well-being of all,

That little Krishna is etched in my mind.

Verse 3:

indivarashyamalakomalangam

indradidevarchitapadapadmam

santanakalpadrumamashritanam

balam mukundam manasa smarami Meaning:

As tender and divine as a dark-blue lotus,

His lotus-feet revered by Lord Indra and other gods,

I rest under the infinite wish-fulfilling tree that is him,

That little Krishna is etched in my mind.

Verse 4:

lambalakam lamvitaharayashtim

shringaralilankitadantapanktim

bimbadharam charuvishalanetram

balam mukundam manasa smarami Meaning:

His hair, long and curly, encircled in a flower garland,

His teeth aglow with the his playful loving smile,

His shapely eyes bright and wide,

That little Krishna is etched in my mind.

Verse 5:

shikye nidhayadya payodadhini

bahirgatayam vrajanayikayam

bhuktva yatheshtam kapatena suptam

balam mukundam manasa smarami Meaning:

He steals away milk and curd from raised swinging pots,

Just when the cowherdesses of Vraja step away,

He eats to his heart’s content, then pretends to sleep,

That little Krishna is etched in my mind.

Verse 6:

kalindajantasthitakaliyasya

phanagrarange natanapriyantam

tatpuchchhahastam sharadinduvaktram

balam mukundam manasa smarami Meaning:

On the back of serpent Kaliya, who lived in the Kalinda-born river Yamuna,

He danced playfully on that serpent’s hood,

Holding its enormous tail in his hand, his face shone like