Adhyaya 0: Opening Benediction and Invocation of Narayana, Sarasvati, and Vyasa

Verse 1

यद्योगिभिर्भवभयार्तिविनाशयोग्यम् आसाद्य वन्दितमतीव विवक्तचित्तैः । तद्वः पुनातु हरिपादसरोजयुग्मम् अविर्भवत्क्रमविलङ्घितभूर्भुवः स्वः ॥

May that pair of Hari’s (Viṣṇu’s) lotus-feet purify you—those feet which yogins, with minds deeply withdrawn and endowed with discernment, attain and worship as able to destroy the anguish born of fear of saṃsāra; and which, when they manifest, overstep in their stride the realms of Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, and Svaḥ.

Verse 2

पायात् स वः सकलकल्मषभेददक्षः क्षीरोदकुक्षिफणिभोगनिविष्टमूर्तिः । श्वासावधूतसलिलोत्कणिकाकरालः सिन्धुः प्रनृत्यमिव यस्य करोति सङ्गात् ॥

May He protect you—He who is skilled at splitting (destroying) all sin, whose form rests upon the serpent-couch within the ocean that is the womb of the Milk-Ocean; from whose breathing the sea becomes fearsome with water-droplets blown about, and by whose very contact the ocean seems, as it were, to dance.

Verse 3

नारायणं समस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम् । देवीं सरस्वतीं व्यासं ततो जयमुदीरयेत् ॥

Having paid reverence to Nārāyaṇa, and also to Nara—the best of men—(and) to the Goddess Sarasvatī and to Vyāsa, then one should proclaim “Jaya” (Victory/Success) and begin (the recitation).