Durga Saptashati Chapter 4: Shakradi Stuti, the Gods Praise the Goddess

Chapter 4 closes the middle charitra. When the battle is over, Indra (Shakra) and the gods praise the Goddess, so it is called the Shakradi Stuti, one of the most beautiful hymns of the Saptashati.

The gods' hymn

With bowed heads and hair on end, the gods said:

• To Ambika, formed from the combined power of all the gods, pervading the whole world, worshipped by gods and great sages, we bow with devotion; may she bless us.
• May Chandika, whose matchless power and strength even Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva cannot describe, think of protecting the world and destroying evil and fear.
• We bow to the Goddess who dwells as fortune in the homes of the virtuous, as poverty among the wicked, as intelligence in pure hearts, as faith in the good and as modesty in the noble; O Goddess, protect the world.
• How can we describe your unthinkable form, your matchless valour that destroys the asuras, and your wondrous deeds in battle?
• You are the cause of the whole world; though possessed of the three gunas you are not known by their faults; even Vishnu and Shiva do not know you; you are the refuge of all.
• You are svaha, by whose utterance the gods are satisfied; you are svadha, by which the ancestors are satisfied.
• You are the great knowledge that frees, the Vedas in the form of sound, and the science of livelihood that sustains the worlds.
• You are intelligence, you are Durga, the boat across the hard-to-cross ocean of existence, you are Lakshmi in Vishnu's heart and Gauri, Shiva's consort.
• Even facing the enemy you keep compassion in your anger: the asuras slain in battle were purified by your weapons and went to heaven.

At the end of the hymn the gods prayed for protection on every side:

Shulena pahi no devi pahi khadgena chambike
ghanta svanena nah pahi chapa jya nihsvanena cha

Meaning: Protect us with your spear, O Goddess; protect us with your sword, O Ambika; protect us with the sound of your bell and the twang of your bowstring.

Then they prayed for protection in the east, west, north and south, and in all three worlds, and worshipped her with divine flowers, sandal and incense.

The Goddess's boon

Pleased, the Goddess said: "Ask what you wish, O gods." The gods said: "O Bhagavati, you have done everything; our enemy Mahishasura is slain. Yet if you would grant a boon, grant this:"

• Whenever we remember you, destroy even our greatest calamities.
• Whoever praises you with these hymns, increase in wealth, prosperity, happiness, abundance, spouse and children, and be ever gracious to them.

The Goddess said "So be it" and vanished. The sage Medha said to King Suratha: "Thus I have told you of the Goddess who appeared from the bodies of the gods. Now hear how she appeared again from the body of Gauri (the final charitra)."

What this chapter teaches

• The first thing after success is gratitude; the gods praised first, then asked.
• The Goddess is in every good quality: fortune in the virtuous home, faith in the good, intelligence in the pure heart.
• A mother keeps compassion even while punishing; she purifies even the enemy.
• God comes when remembered in danger; this is the Goddess's promise.