Dhruva Stuti
ध्रुव स्तुति
Also known as: dhruva stuti · yontah pravishya · dhruva krita bhagavat stuti · dhruva maharaja prayers · prayers of dhruva · dhruva stotram bhagavatam
Read in your language / script
✦ Meaning
The Dhruva Stuti is the radiant prayer offered by the boy-saint Dhruva Maharaja to Lord Vishnu, recorded in the Fourth Canto of the Srimad Bhagavata Purana (Chapter 9). When the Lord touched the speechless, awe-struck child with His conch, Dhruva's faculties awakened and these twelve verses poured forth. He glorifies the Lord as the all-powerful indweller, rejects heavenly rewards, and prays only for the association of pure devotees and unbroken loving devotion. It is treasured as a model of selfless bhakti by one who sought a kingdom yet found God.
Origin & Story
Srimad Bhagavata Purana, Canto 4, Chapter 9, verses 6–17 (Dhruva-krita Bhagavat-stuti) · Sage Veda-Vyasa (as spoken by Dhruva Maharaja) · Classical Puranic era
Dhruva, the five-year-old son of King Uttanapada, was insulted by his stepmother and resolved to attain a position higher than anyone had ever known. Guided by the sage Narada, he performed severe austerities in the forest at Madhuvana, meditating on Lord Vishnu. Pleased by his determination, the Lord appeared before him. The boy, overwhelmed and unable to speak, was touched on the cheek by the Lord's conch, and at once these twelve verses of glorification poured from his awakened heart. Having seen God, Dhruva no longer cared for the kingdom he had sought, and was ultimately granted the eternal, never-falling abode of the pole star, Dhruva-loka.
✦ As told in scripture
Tradition holds that the Lord's conch touching Dhruva's cheek instantly bestowed perfect Vedic knowledge and eloquence upon the illiterate child — the very awakening he describes in the first verse. So pleased was the Lord with this prayer that He granted Dhruva the imperishable polar abode, where he shines as the fixed pole star around which all the luminaries revolve, untouched even by the dissolution of the cosmos.
Complete Text with Meaning
Tap any line — or the ▶ button — to hear it recited
योऽन्तः प्रविश्य मम वाचमिमां प्रसुप्तां सञ्जीवयत्यखिलशक्तिधरः स्वधाम्ना । अन्यांश्च हस्तचरणश्रवणत्वगादीन् प्राणान्नमो भगवते पुरूषाय तुभ्यम् ॥ १ ॥
yo 'ntaḥ praviśya mama vācam imāṃ prasuptāṃ sañjīvayaty akhila-śakti-dharaḥ sva-dhāmnā | anyāṃś ca hasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvag-ādīn prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam || 1 ||
Meaning:My Lord, You are the all-powerful holder of every potency. Having entered within me, You have, by Your own splendour, revived my dormant power of speech, and also enlivened my other faculties — my hands, legs, ears, sense of touch and life-energy. Unto You, the Supreme Person, I offer my obeisances.
एकस्त्वमेव भगवन्निदमात्मशक्त्या मायाख्ययोरुगुणया महदाद्यशेषम् । सृष्ट्वानुविश्य पुरुषस्तदसद्गुणेषु नानेव दारुषु विभावसुवद्विभासि ॥ २ ॥
ekas tvam eva bhagavann idam ātma-śaktyā māyākhyayoru-guṇayā mahad-ādy-aśeṣam | sṛṣṭvānuviśya puruṣas tad-asad-guṇeṣu nāneva dāruṣu vibhāvasu-vad vibhāsi || 2 ||
Meaning:You alone, O Lord, by Your own potency called Maya with its mighty modes, create this entire universe beginning with the mahat-tattva, and then enter within it as the indwelling Person, appearing as if manifold among its qualities — just as fire, though one, appears variously in pieces of wood.
त्वद्दत्तया वयुनयेदमचष्ट विश्वं सुप्तप्रबुद्ध इव नाथ भवत्प्रपन्नः । तस्यापवर्ग्यशरणं तव पादमूलं विस्मर्यते कृतविदा कथमार्तबन्धो ॥ ३ ॥
tvad-dattayā vayunayedam acaṣṭa viśvaṃ supta-prabuddha iva nātha bhavat-prapannaḥ | tasyāpavargya-śaraṇaṃ tava pāda-mūlaṃ vismaryate kṛta-vidā katham ārta-bandho || 3 ||
Meaning:By the intelligence You bestow, this surrendered soul perceives the whole world, like one awakened from sleep, O Lord. How then could a wise person, O friend of the afflicted, ever forget the soles of Your feet, which alone are the shelter granting liberation?
नूनं विमुष्टमतयस्तव मायया ते ये त्वां भवाप्ययविमोक्षणमन्यहेतोः । अर्चन्ति कल्पकतरुं कुणपोपभोग्य- मिच्छन्ति यत्स्पर्शजं निरयेऽपि नॄणाम् ॥ ४ ॥
nūnaṃ vimuṣṭa-matayas tava māyayā te ye tvāṃ bhavāpyaya-vimokṣaṇam anya-hetoḥ | arcanti kalpaka-taruṃ kuṇapopabhogyam icchanti yat sparśajaṃ niraye 'pi nṝṇām || 4 ||
Meaning:Surely their intelligence is stolen away by Your Maya — those who worship You, the desire-fulfilling tree, for some other end such as deliverance from the cycle of birth and death; for the pleasures they crave are corpse-like enjoyments, obtainable even in hell.
या निर्वृतिस्तनुभृतां तव पादपद्म- ध्यानाद्भवज्जनकथाश्रवणेन वा स्यात् । सा ब्रह्मणि स्वमहिमन्यपि नाथ मा भूत् किंत्वन्तकासिलुलितात्पततां विमानात् ॥ ५ ॥
yā nirvṛtis tanu-bhṛtāṃ tava pāda-padma- dhyānād bhavaj-jana-kathā-śravaṇena vā syāt | sā brahmaṇi sva-mahimany api nātha mā bhūt kiṃ tv antakāsi-lulitāt patatāṃ vimānāt || 5 ||
Meaning:My Lord, may the bliss that embodied beings derive from meditating upon Your lotus feet, or from hearing the glories of Your devotees, never be exchanged even for merging into the impersonal Brahman of Your own effulgence — let alone for the heavenly pleasures of those whose airplanes are shattered by the sword of death.
भक्तिं मुहुः प्रवहतां त्वयि मे प्रसङ्गो भूयादनन्त महताममलाशयानाम् । येनाञ्जसोल्बणमुरुव्यसनं भवाब्धिं नेष्ये भवद्गुणकथामृतपानमत्तः ॥ ६ ॥
bhaktiṃ muhuḥ pravahatāṃ tvayi me prasaṅgo bhūyād ananta mahatām amalāśayānām | yenāñjasolbaṇam uru-vyasanaṃ bhavābdhiṃ neṣye bhavad-guṇa-kathāmṛta-pāna-mattaḥ || 6 ||
Meaning:O unlimited Lord, may I always have the association of those great, pure-hearted souls whose devotion to You flows ceaselessly; for, intoxicated by drinking the nectar of narrations of Your qualities, I shall easily cross this fearsome ocean of material existence with its terrible dangers.
ते न स्मरन्त्यतितरां प्रियमीश मर्त्यं ये चान्वदः सुतसुहृद्गृहवित्तदाराः । ये त्वब्जनाभ भवदीयपदारविन्द- सौगन्ध्यलुब्धहृदयेषु कृतप्रसङ्गाः ॥ ७ ॥
te na smaranty atitarāṃ priyam īśa martyaṃ ye cānv adaḥ suta-suhṛd-gṛha-vitta-dārāḥ | ye tv abja-nābha bhavadīya-padāravinda- saugandhya-lubdha-hṛdayeṣu kṛta-prasaṅgāḥ || 7 ||
Meaning:Those, O Lord, who have developed attachment for the hearts of devotees greedy for the fragrance of Your lotus feet, O lotus-naveled one, no longer cherish even the dearest things of this mortal world — sons, friends, home, wealth and wife.
तिर्यङ्नगद्विजसरीसृपदेवदैत्य- मर्त्यादिभिः परिचितं सदसद्विशेषम् । रूपं स्थविष्ठमज ते महदाद्यनेकं नातः परं परम वेद्मि न यत्र वादः ॥ ८ ॥
tiryaṅ-naga-dvija-sarīsṛpa-deva-daitya- martyādibhiḥ paricitaṃ sad-asad-viśeṣam | rūpaṃ sthaviṣṭham aja te mahad-ādy-anekaṃ nātaḥ paraṃ parama vedmi na yatra vādaḥ || 8 ||
Meaning:O unborn one, I know this gross universal form of Yours, made of the mahat-tattva and the rest, populated by beasts, trees, birds, reptiles, gods, demons, humans and all manner of beings, both manifest and unmanifest. Beyond it I know that supreme reality of Yours about which there can be no dispute.
कल्पान्त एतदखिलं जठरेण गृह्णन् शेते पुमान् स्वदृगनन्तसखस्तदङ्के । यन्नाभिसिन्धुरुहकाञ्चनलोकपद्म- गर्भे द्युमान् भगवते प्रणतोऽस्मि तस्मै ॥ ९ ॥
kalpānta etad akhilaṃ jaṭhareṇa gṛhṇan śete pumān sva-dṛg ananta-sakhas tad-aṅke | yan-nābhi-sindhu-ruha-kāñcana-loka-padma- garbhe dyumān bhagavate praṇato 'smi tasmai || 9 ||
Meaning:I offer my obeisances to that Supreme Lord who, at the end of the cosmic cycle, holds this entire creation within His belly and lies down, self-luminous, beside Ananta-Sesha as His companion, while from the ocean of His navel sprouts the golden lotus on which the radiant Brahma takes birth.
त्वं नित्यमुक्तपरिशुद्धविबुद्ध आत्मा कूटस्थ आदिपुरुषो भगवांस्त्र्यधीशः । यद्बुद्ध्यवस्थितिमखण्डितया स्वदृष्ट्या द्रष्टा स्थितावधिमखो व्यतिरिक्त आस्से ॥ १० ॥
tvaṃ nitya-mukta-pariśuddha-vibuddha ātmā kūṭa-stha ādi-puruṣo bhagavāṃs try-adhīśaḥ | yad-buddhy-avasthitim akhaṇḍitayā sva-dṛṣṭyā draṣṭā sthitāv adhimakho vyatirikta āsse || 10 ||
Meaning:You are the eternally liberated, perfectly pure, fully awakened Self, the unchanging original Person, the Lord of the three (modes / worlds). By Your undivided vision You remain the witness of every state of intelligence, presiding over creation and maintenance, yet ever distinct and aloof.
यस्मिन् विरुद्धगतयो ह्यनिशं पतन्ति विद्यादयो विविधशक्तय आनुपूर्व्यात् । तद्ब्रह्म विश्वभवमेकमनन्तमाद्य- मानन्दमात्रमविकारमहं प्रपद्ये ॥ ११ ॥
yasmin viruddha-gatayo hy aniśaṃ patanti vidyādayo vividha-śaktaya ānupūrvyāt | tad brahma viśva-bhavam ekam anantam ādyam ānanda-mātram avikāram ahaṃ prapadye || 11 ||
Meaning:I take shelter of that Brahman — the source of the universe, one, unlimited, primeval, pure bliss alone and free of all change — in whom contradictory powers such as knowledge and ignorance and various other potencies eternally arise in succession.
सत्याशिषो हि भगवंस्तव पादपद्म- माशीस्तथानुभजतः पुरुषार्थमूर्तेः । अप्येवमार्य भगवान् परिपाति दीनान् वाश्रेव वत्सकमनुग्रहकातरोऽस्मान् ॥ १२ ॥
satyāśiṣo hi bhagavaṃs tava pāda-padmam āśīs tathānubhajataḥ puruṣārtha-mūrteḥ | apy evam ārya bhagavān paripāti dīnān vāśreva vatsakam anugraha-kātaro 'smān || 12 ||
Meaning:O Lord, true indeed are the blessings won by serving Your lotus feet, for You are the very embodiment of life's supreme goal. And yet, O noble one, the Lord protects His poor devotees even beyond their prayers — as a mother cow, anxious with affection, tends her helpless calf.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Click any word to hear its pronunciation
Benefits of Chanting Dhruva Stuti
Embodies pure, motiveless devotion (ahaituki bhakti) and the rejection of all material and even liberation-seeking motives.
The famous prayer for the 'association of great pure-hearted devotees' (verse 6) inspires the seeker to value satsanga above all rewards.
Teaches that the bliss of meditating on the Lord's feet surpasses even impersonal liberation, deepening loving attachment to God.
Recited from the Bhagavata, it is held to purify the heart, steady the mind, and awaken dormant spiritual faculties as it did for Dhruva.
A powerful prayer for one facing hardship, modelled by a child who turned worldly ambition into divine realization.
Cultivates surrender, humility and the assurance of the Lord's protection, likened to a mother cow tending her calf.
How to Chant Dhruva Stuti
Sit calmly before an image of Lord Vishnu or Krishna and recite the twelve verses slowly, contemplating their meaning — that the Lord is the all-powerful indweller who awakens the soul. Reflect especially on Dhruva's prayer for the company of pure devotees and unbroken devotion. The stuti is read as part of daily Bhagavata recitation; chant it with humility and a mood of selfless surrender, seeking the Lord alone rather than any reward.
Frequently Asked Questions
You May Also Like
ॐ
Explore more sacred mantras with complete meaning and chanting guides