Parastuti, The Praise of the Goddess Para

Description

The Parāstuti consists of nine verses composed in the āryā gīti meter by one Sahajānanda Yogin (as we are told in the final verse), describing and praising the nature of the Goddess Parā. As of this writing, we are not aware of any more information about the author, aside from this signature in the final verse. The Parāstuti itself is included within the Nityotsava of Umānandanātha, a ritual manual based on the Paraśurāmakalpasūtra (PKS). It is from the Nityotsava* that this hymn has been taken and translated. Parā’s worship is treated in the 8th chapter of PKS in its Parākrama and in the 6th chapter of Nityotsava, entitled the Parāpaddhati. Though the PKS itself describes the mantras and rituals for its primary deities (Mahāgaṇapati, Lalitā Trpurasundarī, Vārāhī, Mātaṅgī and Parā) it does not directly provide any complete hymns to be recited for them. Nityotsava on the other hand provides a hymn for each of these deities within their respective sections of worship, each of these hymns are taken from other sources. The Goddess Parā has long had a relationship to Śrīvidyā. She is even described as the Heart of Lalitā Tripurasundarī in PKS (8.2). Her seed syllable “SAUḤ” is the final seed syllable of the mantra of Bālā Tripurasundarī, and occurs frequently in mantras in the PKS, though sometimes in inflected form. She is also mentioned in the Kāmākṣīmāhātmya of the Lalitopākhyāna (LU 39.10). The form described in LU and PKS is the same as the one described in this hymn, She is white in complexion and holds the cinmudrā (the hand gesture of consciousness) and a manuscript (of a scripture). The list of Gurus related to the worship of Parā in the PKS also correspond to what is mentioned here in the Parāstuti. In PKS the Gurus begin with Parā Bhaṭṭārikā (i.e. the Goddess Parā herself) and next go to Aghora (i.e. the southern face of Śiva). Likewise in this hymn we are told her worship was spread by the Gurus beginning with Aghora. Her worship in the PKS is highly esoteric and contemplative, it involves uniting and dissolving the tattvas, the principles of reality, into Her and worshipping her form as being made up of both prakāśa, the light of consciousness and vimarśa, reflective awareness. Likewise in this hymn she is described as one’s own consiousness (svasaṃvid, verse 1) and the dynamic power of consciousness (citkalā, verse 2). We believe this is the first translation of this text into English and hope practitioners of Srīvidyā will benefit form studying and reciting this hymn. *Nityotsava of Umānandanātha (Supplement to Paraśurāma–kalpa–sūtra). edited by A. Mahadeva Sastri. Oriental Institute Vadodara. 2000. We have prepared a document with the above introduction, full text, translation and a second version of the text with the words and meter marked out for easier reading. Additional we have worked together with Nityānanda Dāsa to produce a recording of the Parastuti in the Ahir Bhairav Raga (embedded below). He has additionally produced five more recordings in other Ragas as well related to different times of day. Table of Contents Introduction Verse 1 Verse 2 Verse 3 Verse 4 Verse 5 Verse 6 Verse 7 Verse 8 Verse 9 Parāstuti (With word and meter marking)