श्री बटुक भैरव अपराध क्षमापन स्तोत्र Shri Batuk Bhairav Apradh Kshamapan Stotra

This sacred Sanskrit stotra (hymn) is a heartfelt confession and plea for forgiveness, offered to Shri Batuk Bhairav by a devotee who feels his worship has fallen short of what is due. As this is a hymn meant for recitation, it is presented above in transliteration, with its overall meaning given below.

The seeker begins by admitting that, despite serving the Guru, he has not truly grasped the Guru's words, and his worship — through meditation, japa, fire-rituals, and other rites — has remained incomplete. He confesses that he made no real effort in fashioning his devotion, and pleads with Lord Vibhu (the All-Pervading One) to swiftly rescue him from the snare of worldly entanglement.

He calls out to the Lord, saying he has taken refuge at his feet, and as one afflicted by sorrow, lays his suffering before him as a true friend would before a friend. He says that for ordinary, simple seekers like himself, there is no other saviour who can extinguish the burning fire of worldly existence.

He praises the Lord as generous and compassionate, the protector of all kinds of people, who carries the lowly across the ocean of worldly existence. He prays that his mind may forever remain fixed upon those lotus feet that dispel darkness, even though he has nothing of value to offer but his humility and devotion.

In a striking passage, he lists out many kinds of unworthy people — the foolish, the wicked, those addicted to bad company, those lost in vice — and notes that even such people have, through the Lord's grace, attained the supreme state. He begs the All-Sustaining Lord to extend the same long-suffering compassion toward him, a lowly one, insisting there is no other true protector besides Shiva himself. He prays that the Lord's compassionate eyes, like lotus petals, may fall upon him, free from harsh judgment.

Through a series of poetic comparisons — does the sun refuse to warm the destitute? Does the moon's nectar-like light withhold itself from the earth at the end of the clouds? — he asks whether the Lord's compassionate gaze, too, would ever be withheld from one as fearful and afflicted as himself, just as a cloud's rain falls without partiality upon water or land alike.

He honours the Lord's nature as one with the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva), yet ultimately formless, pure, beyond the beyond, and untouched by the senses — describing his peaceful form as one praised even by sages and ever-generous toward devotees. The seeker admits he knows nothing of the deep disciplines of tapasya, yoga, sacred numerology, the restraints and observances, nor the rites of Kaula worship dear to the followers of Hari and Hara — and yet, even without such knowledge, his voice continues, day after day, to proclaim the Lord's glory.

He declares he has no craving for righteousness, wealth, kingdoms, the pleasures of women, friends, children, or family — whatever is destined to happen, by the fruits of past actions, O Lord, let it happen; his only true wish is that pure devotion to the Lord may flourish within him.

He reflects: how great a burden can a fallen soul truly be, when the Lord is known to uplift the fallen? Who is more sinful than I, who remains averse to even reciting your praises? Yet his faith remains firm — that the Lord's grace removes all obstacles — and he prays that this trust, too, may never prove false.

Finally, he confesses that there is no one more lost in vice, blinded by ego, and sinful in spirit than himself — "O Batuk! O Shiva! I am not even worthy to utter your name" — yet he reminds the Lord that there is no friend of the afflicted equal to him in compassion, and asks him to act according to his own will, having reconsidered the devotee's plight once more.

The hymn closes by describing the fruits of its recitation — to one who chants this after japa, after bathing, at dawn or in the still of night, the Devi bestows great joy and contentment; such a devotee is accompanied day and night by the Lord's presence, and at the end of life, departs in joyful peace, attaining the world of the devoted.