Passage 1
रामं लोकाभिरामं रघुवरतनयं कोशलामुक्तिपुर्यां खेलन्तं कामकेलिं सुविमलसरयूतीरकुञ्जे नटन्तम्। जानक्या चारुहासच्छविविशदशरच्चन्द्रिकाकान्तिमत्या संयुक्तं राजवेषं ललितरसमयं ब्रह्म पूर्णं नमामि॥१॥
I bow to Rāma, delight of the worlds and noble son of Raghu’s line. In Kośalā, the city of liberation, he plays the games of love and dances in a bower on the bank of the limpid Sarayū. He is joined by Jānakī, whose lovely smile shines with the clear radiance of autumn moonlight. Dressed as a king, filled with graceful rasa, he is the complete Brahman.
Passage 2
भक्तानां प्राणनाथं वरदपरिवृढं वंशवर्यं वरेण्यं शुद्धं श्यामावदातं हरितमणिरुचिं सच्चिदानन्ददेहम्। आभीरीनेत्रपद्मप्रकरदिनकरं पूर्णचन्द्राभिरामं रामं श्यामं प्रकामं निजहृदि कलये कोटिकामावतारम्॥२॥
I hold within my heart dark Rāma, the very life and lord of his devotees: the great giver of blessings, finest of his lineage and worthy of every choice; pure, dark yet radiant, lustrous as an emerald, his body being existence, consciousness, and bliss. He is the sun that opens the lotus eyes of the cowherd women, lovely as the full moon, the embodiment of ten million Loves.
Passage 3
मुक्ताहाराभिरामं मणिमुकुटसमाबद्धसद्रत्नगुच्छं मन्दस्वच्छामृताब्धिप्रतिमविहसितं चारुबिम्बोष्ठकान्तिम्। शृङ्गारे कान्तवेषं परमतमरसानन्दसाक्षात्कृताङ्गं गम्भीरावर्तनाभिं त्रिवलिमृदुदरं नौमि रामं रमेशम्॥३॥
I praise Rāma, Lord of delight, beautiful with his pearl necklace and with clusters of fine jewels set in his gemmed crown. His gentle, lucid smile is like an ocean of nectar, and his lovely lips have the colour of bimba fruit. His charming form is adorned for love; every limb makes the supreme bliss of rasa visible. His navel is a deep whirlpool and three soft folds grace his abdomen.
Passage 4
एकं नित्यं स्वसाक्षि स्वमहिमनि सदा संस्थितं स्वानुभावं स्वाधारं ब्रह्मणोऽप्याश्रयममितगुणं भूरि कल्याणवेषम्। महांशेशं (तं रासेशं?) निरंशं निरवधिमवधिं वस्तुमात्रस्य तत्त्वं निस्त्रैगुण्यं महस्तत् स्मरसि न हृदये पूर्णरामाभिधानम्॥४॥
Do you not remember within your heart that radiance called Pūrṇa Rāma? He is one and eternal, his own witness, forever established in his own majesty and manifest through himself. He is his own foundation and the support even of Brahman, boundless in qualities and richly clothed in auspiciousness—the mighty Lord of all portions (or, as the editor suggests, “that Lord of rāsa”), himself without parts, unlimited yet the limit and truth of all that exists, beyond the three guṇas.
Passage 5
मत्स्यं कूर्मं वराहं नृहरिमथ हरिं वामनं हंसरूपं यज्ञं नारायणाख्यं त्रिभुवनललितं भार्गवं वै हयास्यम्। प्रद्युम्नं वासुदेवं कलिमलदमनं रेवतीप्राणनाथं बुद्धं कल्किं यदन्त्ये न भवति सकलं ब्रह्म रामं स्मरामि॥५॥
I remember Rāma, the all-complete Brahman beyond whom nothing remains: Fish, Tortoise, Boar, Man-lion, Hari, Dwarf, and Swan; Yajña, the one called Nārāyaṇa, delight of the three worlds, Bhārgava, and the Horse-headed Lord; Pradyumna and Vāsudeva, destroyer of the age’s impurity, Revatī’s beloved, Buddha, and Kalki.
Passage 6
या ते नित्यैव लीला प्रमुदवनमहारण्यवृन्दावनादौ वेदानां गोचरत्वं व्रजति न कथं स्वात्मभाषा स्फुरन्ती। सा मे सर्वस्वमास्तां रतिमयसहजानन्दकेलीनिधानं नान्या प्रेम्णार्थता त्वय्यतिशय वरदेश प्रभो रामभद्र॥६॥
Your play is eternal—in Pramoda-vana, the great forest, Vṛndāvana, and the other sacred groves. How could it become an object of the Vedas when it shines in the soul’s own speech? May that play be my everything: the treasury of Sahajānandinī’s love-filled delight. I seek no other end of love than you, O surpassing Lord and giver of blessings, Rāmabhadra.
Passage 7
रक्ताशोकद्रुमालीविरचितसुमहामण्डपान्तर्निषण्णं सीतासङ्केतकेलीप्रियमथोरसाक्रान्तगोपिकदम्बम्। नीलाभ्रश्यामलं तज्जयतु हृदि सदा पूर्णशृङ्गारतत्त्वं धाम श्रीरामनाम त्रिभुवनसुखदं कोटिकामावतारम्॥७॥
May the presence named Śrī Rāma triumph forever in the heart—the complete truth of divine love, dark as a rain cloud, the embodiment of ten million Loves and giver of joy to the three worlds. He sits within the great pavilion fashioned from rows of red aśoka trees, delights in secret trysts with Sītā, and is embraced at the breast by a cluster of cowherd women.
Passage 8
पद्भ्यां मञ्जीरवद्भ्यां सुललितम(ल?)वल्लीपल्लवश्रीमुखाभ्यां क्रीडन् केलीनिकुञ्जे विहसितसहजानन्दिनीशक्तियुक्तः। शुष्कं दावाग्निदग्धं द्रुमविटपमहा (हो?) वंशिकानादवृष्ट्या पीयूषौघैर्नयन्तं पुनरपि हरित (तां?) रामचन्द्रं भजेऽहम्॥८॥
I worship Rāmacandra. His ankleted feet are lovely, their tips beautiful as tender vine-shoots. He plays in the pleasure-bower, joined by the smiling Sahajānandinī Śakti. A great branch, dried and burned by forest fire, becomes green once more beneath the flooding nectar-rain of his flute’s sound.
Passage 9
हंहो माधुर्यलक्ष्मीस्तव नयनसुखं वर्धयत्वस्मदीयं पूर्णा ते राम दृष्टिर्भवतु सकरुणा नित्यमेव प्रसन्ना। त्वत्कीर्तिः कण्ठदेशे निवसतु नितरामादिविद्वत्प्रगीता चित्तेऽन्तर्भातु नित्यं तव पदयुगलं विश्वतापापहन्तृ॥९॥
Ah, may the splendour of your sweetness increase the delight of our eyes. O Rāma, may your full and compassionate gaze remain forever gracious. May your glory—sung from the beginning by the wise—always dwell in my throat, and may the pair of your feet, which removes the world’s burning pain, shine forever within my heart. --- Thus ends the first chapter, “Brahmā’s Hymn,” in the dialogue of Brahmā and Bhuśuṇḍa in the Śrīmad Ādi Rāmāyaṇa. Textual note The 1975 editor prints unresolved alternatives directly in verses 4 and 8; they are retained above rather than silently emended. A Rewa manuscript cited in the apparatus supplies an additional half-verse after verse 5, while the Mathura and Ayodhya witnesses give alternative incarnation wording. Those readings are evidence for later collation, not replacements for the complete edition’s displayed base text.