Dear Fellow Disciple,
May a full moon enter your skull on the night of Guru-purnima.
A disciple is helpless when the mantras flow into his soul from the thousand udders of the cosmic sound-ocean of the Guru.
I have chosen to present them as they have appeared to honour the sacred waves that flow inwards towards us as at an auspicious and blessingsful conjunction of estrellas of grace.
Those celebrating the guru-purnima may this time take a year to daily contemplate the hidden meanings of these mantras received from the Guru.
Tasmai shree-gurave namah: My prostrations, my homage, my surrender, my ‘not mine’ is offered in love to that Guru.
This here is a helpless disciple sharing the guru’s prasada with all other helpless disciples.
Swami Veda Bharati
Guru-purnima 2011
Madhoodakam tRShitaaya chetase
Sanaa jaagran me tanvas tmano vashee
bhraajad-rashmih paavakah shuchih
somo gurur bhadra-geer aasheer-daa bhoot.
Om eem amrtaaya tejase shreem viraaD-gurave namah
Honeyed water for a mind athirst
His speech a blessing conferred from eternity
Eternally wakeful He is Master of my body and soul.
My eyes are affixed upon the visible and invisible
Rays emanating from the feet of that moonlike Deity.
Om Eem1, unto that immortal Light,
Shreem, unto the universe-Expanse Guru
My prostrations, my homage, my surrender, my ‘not mine’ is offered in love.
hRdaa su-peeto vaacho agne rasah
svarvaan satya rtasyaamitaujasah
praanasyormir aaviSh-kRNvan mayRtam
rashmeer vi-kiran dhRtir indriyasya
Om a’eem saarasvataaya shreem pRthivyaa gurave namah
Who is the essence, flavour, savour, juice of fire that is speech,
Drunk in the heart in abandon, the heavenly truth
---of the Perennial Law filled with immeasurable luminous power;
Wave of prana revealing in me that perennial law,
Radiating rays that are the sustaining power
---of all that is in the lord of heaven
Om a’eem, unto the incarnate form of Saraswati,
Shreem, to the guru of Earth
My prostrations, my homage, my surrender, my ‘not mine’ is offered in love.
viShNoh karmaaNi tri-padasyoshmasi
dhaatur dhaatraaNi dheeShu dhareemasi
somasyaapaam shikhaah pra pibaamasi
syasya naamnaam dhaamni ni vishaamasi
Om hreem vaiShNavaaya
shreem aantarikShyaaya gurave namah
We love the acts of that Preserving Lord ViShNu, he of triple stride
We establish and hold the sustaining powers
---of the Sustainer in our intuitive intellects
We drink fully the flames of the waters of soma-moon
We enter deeply the abodes of His Names.
Om hreem, unto the incarnate form of ViShNu the Preserver
Shreem, unto the guru who is dweller of the skies of inner vision
My prostrations, my homage, my surrender, my ‘not mine’ is offered in love.
pashupateh pashavah pashyaama yam
yasya chakShuShaa ni bhaalayaama yam
yash chakShuShor na aa-sthitah svayam
pasyaati tmaanam tasya tmaa cha nah
Om kleem paashupataaya
shreem divaspataye gurave namah
We who see only with the eyes of senses,
---we the cattle of the Lord of beasts,
---the One Whom we see thus with Whose own eye
He Who Himself dwelling in our own eyes
Sees His self and Whose Self sees our self
Om kleem, unto the very form of the Lord of the beasts
Shreem, unto the guru who is the Master of luminous heaven
My prostrations, my homage, my surrender, my ‘not mine’ is offered in love.
Ya upaashraayya mayi shriyo adhi
Mrtyosh chakShmaandham svar jyotir vaarayat
Praavaahayad oormeer oodhasaam shatam
SamudraaNaam maam vi drsho’rNavaanaam
Om streem sahasra-rashmaye
Shreem brahmaaNDeshvaraaya gurave namah
Who made me a resort of shree-glories
Warded death’s glances with heavenly light
Made to flow unto me in all varieties
---the waves from a thousand udders of the cosmic sound-oceans
Om streem, unto the thousand-rayed,
Shreem, unto the guru, the Lord of brahma-egg universes
My prostrations, my homage, my surrender, my ‘not mine’ is offered in love.
poorNenduh kalasho yatra soma aa-plutah
yatraaraa rashmeenaam vi-dhRtaa sahasram
tatraa guruh sinchati soonRtaanaam
kaavyaa ushanaa na amRtaa su-jeevaa
Om eem, a’eem, hreem, kleem, streem,shreem gurave namah
Sacred goblet is the full moon where into soma2 is flooding,
the one where the arrays of thousand rays are held variously
---forming sahasraara---
There the guru sprinkles the epics of inspired sweet streams
of poetic speech, like the self-controlled loving sage-poet Ushanas of yore.
These streams are indeed beyond the pale of death;
These are the beautiful beings of very Life.
To that Guru, my prostrations, my homage, my surrender, my ‘not mine’ is offered in love.
1A beeja-mantra of shakti, Energy, potential, that is the Mother divine of the universe dwelling in the Omnipotent. The syllables, shreem, a’eem, hreem, kleem, streem in these mantras are similarly seed-words of different aspects and powers of the Mother Divine. The secrets of these are known to the masters of the mantra science.
2For an explanation of the word soma, please see Shri Vamadeva Shastri (Dr.David Frawley)’s forthcoming book Soma in Yoga and Ayurveda The Power of Rejuvenation and Immortality, and its Foreword by Swami Veda Bharati. The book is expected to be published within 3-6 months.