Srita Kamala is a beautiful song from the book, Gita Govinda, written by Jayadeva Goswami, in the 12th century in Orissa , India. It's a very well known devotional book in the Vaishnava tradition.
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Story behind the song
I first heard a recording of this song around 1973, when I was living in an ashram in Toronto. It was on an album of bhajans (devotional songs to God) recorded by Acyutananda Swami, an American devotee of Krishna living in Mayapura, Bengal India. The melody was hauntingly beautiful, and I instantly fell in love with it.
Unknown to me at that time, Christina Adams, who lived in India from 1970 to 1974, learned the song directly from Acyutananda Swami in the early 70s, having heard him perform it. He told her he heard and learned it from a local Bengali kirtan/bhajan group.
In 1975 I moved to Chicago and that's when Christina and I first met. In 1978 I moved to Los Angeles and Christina and her husband moved to San Diego. In the 90s, Christina and her new husband, Anthony, moved to Los Angeles, and around 1997 I reconnected with them. We started a recording project together soon after that and this was one of the songs from that project.
Lyrics
Srita kamala
srita kamala kucha mandala he
dhrita kundala e
kalita lalita vana mala
jaya jaya deva hare
dina mani mandala mandana he
bhava khandana e
munijana manasa hamsa
jaya jaya deva hare
jaya deva hare
kaliya visha dhara ganjana he
jana ranjana e
yadu kula nalina dinesha
jaya jaya deva hare
jaya deva hare
Shining with the light
Of the sun and the moon
Rain your love’s sweet monsoon
Rain your boundless love
Fill my heart with wonder
Rain your boundless love
My heart beats like thunder
jaya jaya deva hare
jaya deva hare
madhu mura naraka vinashana he
garu dasana e
sura kula keli nidana
jaya jaya deva hare
amala kamala dala lochana he
bhava mochana e
tribhuvana bhuvana nidhana
jaya jaya deva hare
janaka suta krita bhushana he
jita dushana e
samara shamita dasha kantha
jaya jaya deva hare
1) Glories, glories to Lord Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
who is bedecked with jeweled earrings and a garland of forest flowers
and whose feet are marked with a lotus!
2) The Lord's face shines like the whorl of the sun.
He removes the miseries of His devotees
and is the resting place of the minds of the swan-like sages.
Glories! Glories to Lord Sri Hari!
3) O Supreme Personality of Godhead who destroyed the demoniac Kaliya serpent!
O Lord, You are the beloved of all living entities
and the sun in the galaxy of the Yadu dynasty.
Glories! Glories to Lord Sri Hari.
4) O Lord, destroyer of the demons Madhu, Mura and Naraka! Seated on Garuda,
You are the source of joy for the demigods.
Glories! Glories to Lord Sri Hari.
5) O Lord Your eyes are like lotus petals, and You destroy the bondage of the material world.
You are the maintainer of the three worlds.
Glories to Lord Hari!
6) O Lord, as the gem of the sons of Janaka, You were victorious over all the asuras,
and You smashed the greatest asura, the ten-headed Ravana.
Glories to Lord Hari!
7) O Supreme Personality of Godhead who held the Goverdhana Hill!
Your complexion is like a fresh monsoon cloud, and Sri Radharani is like a cakora bird
who isnourished by drinking the light of Your moonlike face.
Glories! Glories to Lord Hari.
8) O Lord, I offer my humble obeisances at Your lotus feet.
Please bless me by Your limitless mercy.
Glories! Glories to Lord Sri Hari!
9) The poet Sri Jayadeva offers this songs of devotion and shining good fortune to Thee.
All glories! All glories to Lord Sri Hari!
