Sri Varahi Anugraha Ashtakam

The Anugraha Ashtakam is eight verses of grace, and the speaker is Ishvara himself. The first verse sets the tone. Mother, you are the director of the drama of creation; if even the Lord cannot truly grasp your form, how could anyone else compose a hymn worthy of you? So what follows is offered as a remembering of her names rather than a proper stotra. The second verse gives the reason that is enough: when your names are spoken in the world, the rod of Yama cannot touch the one who speaks them.

Significance

Anugraha means favour or grace, and that is the mood of the whole ashtakam. The speaker says that thinking of her makes the hair stand on end with joy, and he asks only that his days be good ones. In the fourth verse her lotus feet shine with the jewels from the crowns of Indra, Shiva, Brahma and Keshava bowing before her. The fifth verse explains who she is: the Varahi power of the Varaha who lifted the earth in play, and at the same time the goddess who occupies the left half of Hara's body, crowned with the cool crescent moon. The sixth gives a short dhyana, bright as heated gold, three-eyed, holding the discus, with the face of the noble boar, and says the gods themselves bow to those who meditate on her this way. The last verse ends with four questions. What is hard, what is out of reach, what is too heavy, what cannot be won, for someone whose mind has reached you? Devotees read the ashtakam for removal of obstacles, steady fortune and a quiet mind, and tradition holds that her grace also keeps enemies and fear at a distance.

How and when to chant

Varahi is traditionally worshipped after dark, and Tuesday or Friday night is the customary time, after bathing, with a lamp lit before her image. Panchami tithi and the Ashadha Gupta Navaratri, often called Varahi Navaratri, are her strongest days. Eight verses take only a few minutes, so many devotees read the ashtakam daily. It is a hymn of praise that anyone with devotion may recite. Varahi's mantra worship belongs to the Sri Vidya and tantric lineages, and that is received from a guru, not learned from a page.