The verse and its meaning · Stotras · Stotras — Bhavanyashtakam

Poor, Old and Lost

Bhavanyashtakam 8

अनाथो दरिद्रो जरारोगयुक्तो महाक्षीणदीनः सदा जाड्यवक्त्रः । विपत्तौ प्रविष्टः प्रनष्टः सदाहम् गतिस्त्वं गतिस्त्वं त्वमेका भवानि

Meaning · English

Orphaned and poor, bent by age and sickness, worn down and wretched, always slow of speech, sunk in misfortune and ruined, you are my refuge, you alone, Bhavani.

The singer lists what is left of him. No protector, no money. Old age and illness together. Worn so thin he is pitiable. A dull face and a slow tongue that cannot even put the trouble into words. Fallen into calamity and, by his own account, lost. He asks for no particular fix and names no cure. He only says how things stand. The answer to all of it is the line the hymn has repeated each time: you are my refuge, you alone.

An old man at a bus stop late at night, phone dead, wallet empty, too tired to explain where he lives. In his pocket is one card with one address on it, and he simply holds it out. Every lack in the verse is the dead phone and the empty wallet. The card is Bhavani.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Guarded in Every Danger · Bhavanyashtakam 7
• All of Stotras · Ask Krishna about it

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