Vibhavari Sesha
Dawn prayer from Kalyana-kalpataru
Sanskrit Verses
Verse 1
vibhavari sesha, aloka-pravesa, nidra chari' utho jiva bolo hari hari, mukunda murari, rama krishna hayagriva
Verse 2
nrisimha vamana, sri-madhusudana, brajendra-nandana syama putana-ghatana, kaitabha-satana, jaya dasarathi-rama
Verse 3
yasoda dulala, govinda-gopala, vrindavana purandara gopi-priya-jana, radhika-ramana, bhuvana-sundara-bara
Verse 4
ravanantakara, makhana-taskara, gopi-jana-vastra-hari brajera rakhala, gopa-vrinda-pala, citta-hari bamsi-dhari
Verse 5
yogindra-bandana, sri-nanda-nandana, braja-jana-bhaya-hari navina nirada, rupa manohara, mohana-bamsi-bihari
Verse 6
yasoda-nandana, kamsa-nisudana, nikunja-rasa-vilasi kadamba-kanana, rasa-parayana, brinda-vipina-nivasi
Verse 7
ananda-vardhana, prema-niketana, phula-sara-jojaka kama gopangana-gana, citta-vinodana, samasta-guna-gana-dhama
Verse 8
jamuna-jivana, keli-parayana, manasa-candra-cakora nama-sudha-rasa, gao krishna-jasa rakho vacana mana mora
Translation
1) The night has come to an end and the light of dawn is entering. O jiva soul, arise and give up your sleep. Chant the holy names of Lord Hari, who is the giver of liberation; the enemy of the Mura demon; the supreme enjoyer; the all-attractive one; and the horse-headed incarnation, Hayagriva.
2) Lord Hari [Krishna] incarnated as the half-man, half-lion, Nrisimha. He appeared as a dwarf-brahmana named Upendra and is the killer of the Madhu demon. He is the beloved son of the King of Vraja, Nanda Maharaja, and is blackish in complexion. He is the slayer of the Putana witch and the destroyer of the demon Kaitabha. All glories to Lord Hari, who appeared as Lord Rama, the son of King Dasaratha.
3) He is the darling of mother Yasoda; the giver of pleasure to the cows, land, and spiritual senses; and the protector of the cows. He is the Lord of the Vrindavana forest; the gopis' beloved; the lover of Radhika; and the most beautiful personality in all the worlds.
4) As Ramacandra He brought about the end of the demoniac King Ravana; as Krishna He stole the older gopis' butter; He stole the younger gopis' clothes while they were bathing in the Yamuna. He is a cowherd boy of Vraja and the protector of the cowherd boys. He steals the hearts of all and always holds a flute.
5) Lord Krishna is worshiped by the best of yogis and is the son of Nanda. He removes all the fears of the inhabitants of Vraja. He is the color of a fresh rain cloud, and His form is enchanting. When He wanders about, playing His flute, He looks very charming.
6) He is the son of Yasoda and the killer of King Kamsa, and He sports in the rasa dance among the groves of Vraja. Krishna engages in this rasa dance underneath the kadamba trees, and He resides in the forest of Vrindavana.
7) He increases the ecstasy of His devotees. He is the reservoir of all love and is the transcendental Cupid who uses His flowered arrows to increase the loving desires of the gopis. He is the pleasure of the gopis' hearts and the abode of all wonderful qualities.
8) Lord Krishna is the life of the River Yamuna. He is always absorbed in amorous pastimes, and He is the moon of the gopis' minds, which are like the cakora birds that subsist only upon moonlight. O mind, obey these words of mine and sing the glories of Sri Krishna in the form of these holy names, which are full of nectarean mellows.
Spiritual Significance
Vibhavari Sesha is the traditional dawn awakening call of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura gently rouses the sleeping soul: "nidra chari' utho jiva" — "Give up your slumber, O soul, and chant the holy names!" The song lists more than two dozen names of the Lord, each pointing to a specific pastime or incarnation, so that the very first thoughts of the day are filled with Krishna.
Scriptural Source & Tradition
The bhajan appears in Kalyana-kalpataru (The Desire-tree of Auspiciousness), Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's collection of songs for self-purification. It is sung right after Mangala-arati in ISKCON temples worldwide and was specifically taught by Srila Prabhupada as the perfect transition from the predawn arati to the morning japa session.
Commentary from the Acharyas
Srila Prabhupada writes in his purports to the Third Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam that "brahma-muhurta is the most auspicious time for spiritual cultivation." Vibhavari Sesha is designed to seize that window: it shifts consciousness from sleep (a form of ignorance) directly to kirtan (the topmost mode of goodness). The cascading list of names — Hari, Mukunda, Murari, Rama, Krishna, Hayagriva, Nrsimha, Vamana, Yashoda-dulala — is a nama-stuticovering all of the Lord's principal incarnations.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura noted that singing this bhajan with attention each morning gradually dissolvesanartha (unwanted desires), because the soul cannot simultaneously absorb itself in Krishna's names and in mundane thoughts.
When to Sing / Chant
- Immediately after Mangala-arati (around 4:30 AM) — its original setting
- As the first kirtan of the day, before sitting down for japa
- When one is sleepy, tamasic or struggling to rise on time
- During Kartik vrata and Brahma-muhurta sadhana intensives
Benefits for the Devotee
- Helps establish the early-morning sadhana habit (rising in brahma-muhurta)
- Replaces the first thoughts of the day with Krishna's holy names
- Increases the quality and concentration of the day's japa
- Cultivates a peaceful, devotional mood that carries into work and family life
- An ideal song for raising children in a Krishna conscious atmosphere
Gratitude to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
We offer our humble obeisances at the lotus feet of our founder-acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, without whose causeless mercy the priceless prayers, bhajans and sacred literature of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition would have remained inaccessible to most of the world. By his herculean preaching efforts, his unparalleled translations and his founding of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the holy names, pastimes and instructions of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are today chanted in every town and village.
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to the Vaishnava acharyas in the disciplic succession.
