Devanagari
कात्यायनि महामाये महायोगिन्यधीश्वरि ।
नन्दगोपसुतं देवि पतिं मे कुरु ते नम: ।
इति मन्त्रं जपन्त्यस्ता: पूजां चक्रु: कुमारिका: ॥ ४ ॥
Verse text
kātyāyani mahā-māye
mahā-yoginy adhīśvari
nanda-gopa-sutaṁ devi
patiṁ me kuru te namaḥ
iti mantraṁ japantyas tāḥ
pūjāṁ cakruḥ kumārikāḥ
Synonyms
kātyāyanī
—
O goddess Kātyāyanī
;
mahā
—
māye — O great potency
;
mahā
—
yogini — O possessor of great mystic power
;
adhīśvari
—
O mighty controller
;
nanda
—
gopa — sutam — the son of Mahārāja Nanda
;
devi
—
O goddess
;
patim
—
the husband
;
me
—
my
;
kuru
—
please make
;
te
—
unto you
;
namaḥ
—
my obeisances
;
iti
—
with these words
;
mantram
—
the hymn
;
japantyaḥ
—
chanting
;
tāḥ
—
they
;
pūjām
—
worship
;
cakruḥ
—
performed
;
kumārikāḥ
—
the unmarried girls .
Translation
Each of the young unmarried girls performed her worship while chanting the following mantra. “O goddess Kātyāyanī, O great potency of the Lord, O possessor of great mystic power and mighty controller of all, please make the son of Nanda Mahārāja my husband. I offer my obeisances unto you.”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Each of the young unmarried girls performed her worship while chanting the following mantra. "O goddess Kātyāyanī, O great potency of the Lord, O possessor of great mystic power and mighty controller of all, please make the son of Nanda Mahārāja my husband. I offer my obeisances unto you."
KB 10.22.4
The unmarried girls used to pray with great devotion to Goddess Kātyāyanī, addressing her as follows: “O supreme external energy of the Personality of Godhead, O supreme mystic power, O supreme controller of this material world, O goddess, please be kind to us and arrange for our marriage with the son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa.” The Vaiṣṇavas generally do not worship any demigods. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has strictly forbidden all worship of the demigods for anyone who wants to advance in pure devotional service. Yet the gopīs, who are beyond compare in their affection for Kṛṣṇa, were seen to worship Durgā. The worshipers of demigods sometimes mention that the gopīs worshiped Goddess Durgā, but we must understand the purpose of the gopīs. Generally, people worship Goddess Durgā for some material benediction. Here, the gopīs prayed to the goddess to become wives of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The purport is that if Kṛṣṇa is the center of activity, a devotee can adopt any means to achieve that goal. The gopīs could adopt any means to satisfy or serve Kṛṣṇa. That was the superexcellent characteristic of the gopīs.
Purport
According to various
ācāryas,
the goddess Durgā mentioned in this verse is not the illusory energy of Kṛṣṇa called Māyā but rather the internal potency of the Lord known as Yoga-māyā. The distinction between the internal and external, or illusory, potency of the Lord is described in the
Nārada-paṣcarātra,
in the conversation between Śruti and Vidyā:
jānāty ekāparā kāntaṁ
saivā durgā tad-ātmikā
yā parā paramā śaktir
mahā-viṣṇu-svarūpiṇī
yasyā vijṣāna-mātreṇa
parāṇāṁ paramātmanaḥ
mahūrtād deva-devasya
prāptir bhavati nānyathā
ekeyaṁ prema-sarvasva
svabhāvā gokuleśvarī
anayā su-labho jṣeya
ādi-devo ’khileśvaraḥ
asyā āvārika-śaktir
mahā-māyākhileśvarī
yayā mugdaṁ jagat sarvaṁ
sarve dehābhimāninaḥ
“The Lord’s inferior potency, known as Durgā, is dedicated to His loving service. Being the Lord’s potency, this inferior energy is nondifferent from Him. There is another, superior potency, whose form is on the same spiritual level as that of God Himself. Simply by scientifically understanding this supreme potency, one can immediately achieve the Supreme Soul of all souls, who is the Lord of all lords. There is no other process to achieve Him. That supreme potency of the Lord is known as Gokuleśvarī, the goddess of Gokula. Her nature is to be completely absorbed in love of God, and through Her one can easily obtain the primeval God, the Lord of all that be. This internal potency of the Lord has a covering potency, known as Mahā-māyā, who rules the material world. In fact she bewilders the entire universe, and thus everyone within the universe falsely identifies himself with the material body.”
From the above we can understand that the internal and external, or superior and inferior, potencies of the Supreme Lord are personified as Yoga-māyā and Mahā-māyā, respectively. The name Durgā is sometimes used to refer to the internal, superior potency, as stated in the
Paṣcarātra
: “In all
mantras
used to worship Kṛṣṇa, the presiding deity is known as Durgā.” Thus in the transcendental sound vibrations glorifying and worshiping the Absolute Truth, Kṛṣṇa, the presiding deity of the particular
mantra
or hymn is called Durgā. The name Durgā therefore refers also to that personality who functions as the internal potency of the Lord and who is thus on the platform of
śuddha-sattva,
pure transcendental existence. This internal potency is understood to be Kṛṣṇa’s sister, known also as Ekānaṁśā or Subhadrā. This is the Durgā who was worshiped by the
gopīs
in Vṛndāvana. Several
ācāryas
have pointed out that ordinary people are sometimes bewildered and think that the names Mahā-māyā and Durgā refer exclusively to the external potency of the Lord.
Even if we accept hypothetically that the
gopīs
were worshiping the external Māyā, there is no fault on their part, since in their pastimes of loving Kṛṣṇa they were acting as ordinary members of society. Śrīla Prabhupāda comments in this regard: “The Vaiṣṇavas generally do not worship any demigods. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has strictly forbidden all worship of the demigods for anyone who wants to advance in pure devotional service. Yet the
gopīs,
who are beyond compare in their affection for Kṛṣṇa, were seen to worship Durgā. The worshipers of demigods also sometimes mention that the
gopīs
worshiped goddess Durgā, but we must understand the purpose of the
gopīs.
Generally, people worship the goddess Durgā for some material benediction. Here, the
gopīs
prayed to the goddess to become wives of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The purport is that if Kṛṣṇa is the center of activity, a devotee can adopt any means to achieve that goal. The
gopīs
could adopt any means to satisfy or serve Kṛṣṇa. That was the superexcellent characteristic of the
gopīs.
They worshiped goddess Durgā completely for one month in order to have Kṛṣṇa as their husband. Every day they prayed for Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, to become their husband.”
The conclusion is that a sincere devotee of Kṛṣṇa will never imagine any material quality to exist in the transcendental
gopīs,
who are the most exalted devotees of the Lord. The only motivation in all their activities was simply to love and satisfy Kṛṣṇa, and if we foolishly consider their activities to be mundane in any way, it will be impossible for us to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Oh Katyayani! Make the son of the gopa Nanda our husband."
"But why are you making this request to me independently? I can only do this by inspiring your parents to do it. Through them I can do this."
Fearing this response, they say in anxiety, "O great Yogini, you yourself must unite us with Krsna without the obstacles caused by parents interference. Being so eager, we cannot bear any delay. Because Krsna has not yet got his upanayana thread, he is not yet suitable for marriage. Therefore , without the normal wedding, but in the gandharva style, let us marry him. Oh adhisvari, you who have all powers, nothing is impossible for you."
"If you want to marry Krsna without your parents knowing, how are you going to carry out married life together with him?"
"Oh Mahamaya, supreme bewilderer, you should bewilder our parents, so that they do not think of marrying us with anyone else, and so that they do not know of our association with Krsna. Oh Devi, one who carrries out pastimes, or helps engage us in the lord’s pastimes, make the son of Nanda our husband and no one else. Thus even if we marry someone else, there is no harm."
In this way thinking of the meaning of each mantra, the gopis worshipped Katyayani. (ananda vrndavana campu says: o worshipabledevi please accept this foot wash. Make our breasts cool with the water from Krsna’s feet. Please give us Krsna’s association. We offer you this arghya. Give us association with Krsna who is mahargha, most worshipable.)
The object of their worship was yogamaya, coming from the cit sakti. She was not the material maya. In the Narada pancaratra, in the discussion of Srutividya, it is said,"This durga is the supreme, principle energy of mahavisnu, ad non different from him. By her assistance, in one second one can attain bhagavan. This chief energy of the lord is the ruler of Gokula, and is endowed with the highest prema. By her mercy one can easily attain the Lord. Her avarika sakti is mahamaya, the mistress of infinite material universes. This mahamaya bewilders all the souls of the universe who think they are material bodies."
Thus, in all the mantras for Krsna, the spiritual Durga is the presiding deity. She is worshipped in meditation when reciting the mantras. To confuse the yogamaya durga with the mahamaya durga is a mistake. And also, because the pastimes of Vraja are very similar to material pastimes in appearance there is no fault in the worship of maya devi. Independent thinkers who think otherwise have no chance of getting even a touch of the breeze of holding the scent of prema on their body. (this is from vaisnava tosani)
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
They prayed to Kātyāyanī because she was the bestower of great dharma, having manifested the dynasty of the sage Kātyāyana (and she was the wife of Yājñavalkya). They pray to her as Mahāmāyā since she is the form of great śakti of the Lord, capable of giving the girls sufficient power to attain their goal. There could be some obstacle to their goal. Therefore they called out “Mahāyogini! By your power, obstacles cannot happen.” “You should worship some other devatā.” In reply to this test question they say “O There is no devatā above you (adhīśvari)!” Make the son of Nanda our husband. This describes Kṛṣṇa in the form that is suitable to them and reveals that this form is the most excellent. They directly say the name of a most respected person, Nanda, though normally they should not mention his name directly. They identify him as a cowherd. They do this to make sure no one else is meant. “You should worship Kṛṣṇa to attain him.” O Devī! You are knowledgeable of the rasa of his pastimes. You know that it is not suitable to pray to him directly.” They each chanted this prayer and thus they each said, “My husband (me patim).” This prayer is an ancient siddha mantra for attaining Kṛṣṇa as a husband. Thus Kātyāyanī is part of his svarūpa-śakti, not the embodiment of material śakti that creates universes.
na viṣṇunā vinā devī na hariḥ padmajāṁ vinā
The divine goddess is never present without Viṣṇu, nor does he ever appear without her. Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra.
This refers to the devī who is part of his svarūpa-śakti since she is considered non-different from him.
yasyāṁśāṁśāṁśa-bhāgena viśvotpatti-layodayāḥ
bhavanti kila viśvātmaṁs taṁ tvādyāhaṁ gatiṁ gatā
O Soul of all that be, the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe are all carried out by a fraction of an expansion of an expansion of your expansion. Today I have come to take shelter of you, the Supreme Lord. SB 10.85.31
This refers to the material śakti, since she is considered insignificant.
yātīta-gocarā vācāṁ manasāñcāviśeṣaṇā
jñāni-jñānāparicchedyā vande tām īśvarīṁ parām
sarvabhūteṣu sarvātmā yā śaktir parā tava
guṇāśrayā namas tasyai śāśvatāyai sureṣvara
I worship that supreme goddess who is beyond all words and mind, and cannot be understood by knowledge of the jñānīs. O Lord! I offer respects to that eternal śakti of yours who is present in all beings, who is the shelter of the guṇas. Viṣṇu Purāṇa
In these verses from Viṣṇu Purāṇa a distinction is made between the two śaktis.
In the Nārada-pañcarātra, in the conversation between Śruti and Vidyā it is said:
jānāty ekāparā kāntaṁ saivā durgā tad-ātmikā
yā parā paramā śaktir mahā-viṣṇu-svarūpiṇī
yasyā vijñāna-mātreṇa parāṇāṁ paramātmanaḥ
mahūrtād deva-devasya prāptir bhavati nānyathā
ekeyaṁ prema-sarvasva svabhāvā gokuleśvarī
anayā su-labho jñeya ādi-devo ‘khileśvaraḥ
asyā āvārika-śaktir mahā-māyākhileśvarī
yayā mugdaṁ jagat sarvaṁ sarve dehābhimāninaḥ
The Lord’s potency known as Durgā dedicated to his loving service. Being the Lord’s potency, his supreme potency, is the counter form of Mahā-viṣṇu. Simply by understanding this supreme potency, one can immediately achieve the Supreme Soul of all souls, who is the Lord of all lords. There is no other process to achieve him. That supreme potency of the Lord is known as Gokuleśvarī, the goddess of Gokula. Her nature is to be completely absorbed in love of God, and through her one can easily obtain the primeval God, the Lord of all. This internal potency of the Lord has a covering potency, known as Mahā-māyā, who rules the material world. By her the entire universe is bewildered, and thus everyone within the universe falsely identifies himself with the material body.
This spiritual Durgā is the presiding deity of the eighteen syllable Kṛṣṇa mantra. Because her names are the same as those of the material Durgā, confusion arises. There is a rule that one should express a particular name of the person desired as the husband in the third part of the verse. Since Vraja has pastimes like the material world, the girls worship Kātyāyanī as Māyā-devī. Their worship of her however is filled the joy of the highest prema. Thus Kṛṣṇa cannot be attained by worship of the material Māyā. If some respectable people think otherwise, they cannot touch even the slightest trace of Kṛṣṇa’s prema. Pure prema for the Lord is the highest goal. The worship of all devatās is included in worship of the Lord. This is the conclusion of Bhāgavatam. The gopīs eternally possess that prema. They are fully accomplished. What is the question of sādhana for them? Considering the highest attainment of prema, that prema, realized with pure sweetness, becomes mixed with thinking of Kṛṣṇa as Supreme Lord and thinking that he is the cause of pure bhakti out of reverence. Bhagavān is controlled by prema alone, but the people of Vraja are not praised for such mixed prema.
nemaṁ viriñco na bhavo na śrīr apy aṅga-saṁśrayā
prasādaṁ lebhire gopī yat tat prāpa vimuktidāt
Neither Brahmā, nor Śiva, nor even the goddess of fortune, who is always the better half of the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Lord, the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by mother Yaśodā. SB 10.9.20
itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena
māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ
In this way with an abundance of splendor caused by Kṛṣṇa, they played with him, though he is pure consciousness or happiness known as Brahman for the jñānīs, the Supreme Lord for the devotees with dāsya-bhāva and an ordinary human child for those covered by material illusion. SB 10.12.11
nāyaṁ śriyo ’ṅga u nitānta-rateḥ prasādaḥ
svar-yoṣitāṁ nalina-gandha-rucāṁ kuto ’nyāḥ
rāsotsave ’sya bhuja-daṇḍa-gṛhīta-kaṇṭha-
labdhāśiṣāṁ ya udagād vraja-vallabhīnām
When Kṛṣṇa was dancing with the gopīs in the rāsa-līlā, the gopīs were embraced by the arms of the Lord. This favor was never bestowed upon the goddess of fortune or other consorts in the spiritual world. Indeed, never was such a thing even imagined by the most beautiful girls in the heavenly planets, whose bodily luster and aroma resemble the lotus flower. And what to speak of worldly women who are very beautiful according to material estimation? SB 10.47.60
Thus the girls say “the son of cowherd Nana” instead of “Supreme Lord.” This is the pastime of their pure, sweet prema and nothing else. It is situated above everything else.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
O śakti of eternity, knowledge and bliss belonging to the Lord (mahāmaye)! You can give all śakti to us who are qualified to attain Kṛṣṇa. “But he does not depend on a wife.” O great yoginī! You can do what is difficult to do. “I am afraid of Mahālakṣmī.” O great controller (adhīśvari)! As the controller you have no fear since you are endowed with unlimited powers. “Then worship him.” O goddess (devi)! You shine (divyati--devi) with pure bhakti! Worship of his devotee is superior to worshipping him. You can fulfill our desire completely.
He is the young son of the cowherd Nanda (nanda-gopa-sutam). We young cowherd girls are suitable as his wives. Or he is the son of our king (gopa) Nanda. Thus he is hard to attain. But make him our husband or master –with power over us like the king. Or dressed as a young cowherd and performing cowherd pastimes, he is most attractive. Thus we pray that he be our husband. He should manifest in that form always.
Each girl prayed in her heart for Kṛṣṇa as her husband (me patim). This avoided fear of co-wives.
Or the mantra was revealed by great sages like Nārada in ancient times, and in that form it was uttered without change. According to Padma Purāṇa in a previous birth these girls had been sages during the time of Rāma. In Vraja, desiring Kṛṣṇa, they worshipped using this mantra. Not using any other mantra, they showed their devotion to Kṛṣṇa.