|| kulaśekharaviracita mukundamālāstotram ||
kṛṣṇa tvadīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam
adyaiva me viśatu mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ
prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ
kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaraṇaṁ kutas te
kara-caraṇa-saroje kāntiman-netra-mīne
śrama-muṣi bhuja-vīci-vyākule 'gādha-mārge
hari-sarasi vigāhyāpīya tejo-jalaughaṁ
bhava-maru-parikhinnaḥ kleśam adya tyajāmi
Re-ordered Word -by-word meaning
kṛṣṇa - Oh Krishna! adyaiva - right now me mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ - (let) my mind, which ought to be like a royal swan tvadīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam -inside the vault/cage of your lotus feet viśatu - rest/make its home. (For)
kutaḥ - How will it be possible for me , te smaraṇaṁ - to ensure my remembering and chanting your resurrecting name, prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye - at the moment of my life-breath passing
kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau - as my vocal chords would be constricted kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ - by phlegm and wind and bile?
bhava-maru-parikhinnaḥ - (I who am) wretched and distressed wandering in the inhospitable desert of worldliness,
hari-sarasi - in the vast lake/ocean of God called Hari
kara-caraṇa-saroje - filled with the lotuses of His hands and feet, kāntiman-netra-mīne - with fishes brightly darting viz. his eyes, bhuja-vīci-vyākule - with His arms moving and busily engaged in śrama-muṣi - removing my hardship and tiredness, agādha-mārge - of vastness in size ( with no paucity to accommodate me)
vigāhya - having plunged into it āpīya - having drunk to my heart's content of tejo-jalaughaṁ - that potent and copious waters, kleśam - my distress and difficulty,
adya - rightaway tyajāmi - shall abandon.
The first shloka illustrates the wisdom of the devotee who pleads with God to grant him the grace to engage in devotional prayer right now, realising that there is no sense in postponing prayer to the moment of death, when one is unable to cope with illness and therefore unable to think of God and pray.
The second shloka is a prayer from the devotee who compares worldly troubles to a burning desert and the effect of engaging in prayer to a plunge into a cool, vast, lake which actively removes distress.
mukundamala is a wonderful prayer which I learnt as a kid!
