The verse and its meaning · Stotras · Stotras — Bhavanyashtakam

Nothing Else to Lean On

Bhavanyashtakam 1

न तातो न माता न बन्धुर्न दाता न पुत्रो न पुत्री न भृत्यो न भर्ता । न जाया न विद्या न वृत्तिर्ममैव गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि

Meaning · English

Not father, mother, kinsman or giver, son, daughter, servant or husband, wife, learning or livelihood is mine. You are my refuge, my refuge, you alone, Bhavani.

The speaker goes down the list of everything people lean on. Parents. A kinsman. Someone who gives. Children. A servant. A husband, a wife. Then the things we build ourselves: learning, and a way to earn a living. None of it, he says, is truly his. The refrain carries the weight. Refuge here means the place you go, where you end up when you can walk no further. He says it twice, then narrows it: you, only you, Bhavani.

Picture a child lost in a crowded market. Kind strangers stop, a shopkeeper offers water, a policeman asks questions. The child keeps looking past all of them, scanning for one face. The list in the hymn is like those helpers: present, even kind, but not the one face. Bhavani is the face the child is searching for.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

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