Tara Stotram (Tarashtakam / Nilasaraswati Stotram) — Word-by-Word Meaning

O Mother Nilasaraswati, bestower of good fortune and prosperity on those who bow to you, standing in the warrior's posture upon the heart of the corpse, with a smiling lotus-face, eyes like blossomed blue lotuses, three-eyed, holding the curved knife, skull-cup and blue lotus and bearing the sword — you alone are my refuge; I take shelter in you, the Supreme Mistress. O Mistress of speech, wish-granting creeper for devotees, ruler of all attainments, giver of mastery in prose, Prakrit and verse and of every accomplishment, three-eyed with blue-lotus eyes, ocean of compassion — graciously sprinkle one like me with the nectar that increases good fortune. O short-statured one, your body filled with the fullness of pride, brilliant with serpent ornaments, your lovely waist wrapped in tiger-skin and marked with swaying bells, beautifully adorned with a garland of freshly severed, dripping human heads — O fierce Goddess, destroy my fear. O Mother of Maya and of the formless states of consciousness, marked with the bindu and crescent, embodiment of Hum and Phat, you alone are the refuge of one like me, O Goddess whose essence is mantra. Your form, O Mother, is fashioned of the three abodes — gross, exceedingly subtle and supreme — not at all within the reach of the Vedas; praised by the wise, I take refuge in you. By serving your lotus feet the meritorious attain union with you — becoming equal to Shiva, the three-eyed Lord, Brahma and the rest. What dull-witted person would instead serve Indra and the other gods, who are skilled only at drowning in the ocean of worldly existence and who are themselves turned away from the service of your feet? O Mother, the gods whose crowns are stamped with the dust of your two lotus feet become victorious in the battle for triumph and rest fearlessly in your lap; while others who boast 'I am a god, none in the world is my equal' inevitably perish of themselves, just as the moon and sun (wane). At the mere remembrance of your name, hosts of ghosts, goblins, demons and rakshasas, yakshas and serpent-lords, daityas and mighty danavas, sky-roaming beings, tigers and other beasts, dakinis, and even angry Death himself are unable even to look at your devotees and flee in an instant upon the earth. Lakshmi, the host of siddhis, the paduka and other attainments, the paralysing of foes and of herds of elephants, and bewildering of others — O beautiful one, all these powers truly come to people by the service of your feet; even a lowly, weary man becomes here as charming as Kamadeva and as eloquent as Brihaspati. The devout man who, controlled and pure, recites this holy Tara Ashtakam at dawn, midday and dusk gains poetic genius and learning and becomes a knower of the meaning of all scriptures; obtaining imperishable wealth and enjoying desired pleasures, attaining fame, beauty, freedom from disease and the love of all, and becoming renowned in the worlds, he at last attains liberation.