A tribute of praise to the motherland. Today, being the ninth day of the Magh Navaratri(nine days of the feminine divine Refer: http://theyogaschool.in/component/easyblog/navratra-the-nine-nights-of-the-feminine-divine?Itemid=101) and the 26th of January(Republic Day in India), Vande Mataram is the perfect ode to Mother India, who has integrated nature worship within her very cultural fabric. All nature is worshipped as Mother Prakriti, the divine feminine principle, and it is her grace that is sought to achieve milestones in yogic practice. It is her that nourishes our physical body through her gifts and it is to protect the Motherland that soldiers perform their duty. Making an offering of all Karma in dedication to the mother Earth, who we are born of, constitutes a respect of her law and synergy with a natural way of life.
वन्दे मातरम्
सुजलां सुफलाम्
मलयजशीतलाम्
शस्यश्यामलाम्
मातरम्।
Mother, I praise thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving Mother of might,
Mother free.
शुभ्रज्योत्स्नापुलकितयामिनीम्
फुल्लकुसुमितद्रुमदलशोभिनीम्
सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीम्
सुखदां वरदां मातरम्।। 1।।
Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I praise thee.
सप्त[22]-कोटि-कण्ठ-कल-कल-निनाद-कराले
द्विसप्त-कोटि-भुजैर्धृत-खरकरवाले,
अबला केन मा एत बले।
बहुबलधारिणीं
नमामि तारिणीं
रिपुदलवारिणीं
मातरम्।। 2।।
Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
When the swords flash out in seventy million hands
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,
To thee I call Mother and Lord!
Thou who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free
तुमि विद्या, तुमि धर्म
तुमि हृदि, तुमि मर्म
त्वम् हि प्राणा: शरीरे
बाहुते तुमि मा शक्ति,
हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति,
तोमारई प्रतिमा गडी मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे।।। 3।।
Thou art wisdom, thou art the law,
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath
Thou art love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nerves the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine. [Verse 3]
त्वम् हि दुर्गा दशप्रहरणधारिणी
कमला कमलदलविहारिणी
वाणी विद्यादायिनी,
नमामि त्वाम्
नमामि कमलाम्
अमलां अतुलाम्
सुजलां सुफलाम्
मातरम्।। 4।।
Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi, the lotus-throned,
And the Muse a hundred-toned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother lend thine ear,
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleems,
Dark of hue O candid-fair
वन्दे मातरम्
श्यामलाम् सरलाम्
सुस्मिताम् भूषिताम्
धरणीं भरणीं
मातरम्।। 5।।
In thy soul, with bejeweled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Loveliest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I praise thee,
Mother great and free
-Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya