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Famous Yoga Invocations
In a yoga class, it is not unusual to hear Sanskrit mantras and sometimes to be invited by the teacher to chant them, especially in the beginning and at the end of the session. Most teachers will only play the mantras during the class and recite the invocation of the particular style they teach. For example, if this is an Ashtanga class, the Ashtanga invocation will be recited before the actual asana practice. If this is an Anusara class, the Anusara invocation will be recited. And the teacher may play a CD with these and other mantras, from the same and from other traditions. Other teachers, especially those who have studied in India, can chant numerous mantras and will sometimes do so at any moment.
When I first witnessed a full class of yoga practitioners chanting in Sanskrit, I was bewildered. I didn't have a clue why they were doing that nor what they were saying! Today, I can read on the face of some of my students the same bewilderment when I chant in class. Others who have learned the basics of Sanskrit in one of my workshops or with another teacher ask me the text and translation of these mantras. They are also eager to learn where these mantras come from and how they are actually used.
This article aims at removing the bewilderment of neophytes, at providing a convenient list of most popular invocations in Sanskrit with an English translation, as well as where each one comes from and when it is used. After presenting the most famous of all, the Gayatri, we will see four Shanti mantras, found at the beginning of certain Upanishads (texts of yoga in Sanskrit), and called 'Shanti mantras' because they end in "Om shantih shantih shantih". We will then have a look at the Ashtanga and the Anusara invocations, and at the beautiful Guru Prayer. We will terminate with the Mahamritunjaya mantra and the famous Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu, two prayers that are often repeated at the end of a practice.
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| The goddess Gayatri |
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1.Gayatri
The Gayatri is undoubtedly the most revered and the oldest invocation still repeated by millions of people everyday. It is a prayer dedicated to Savitar, the sun. It appears several times in the Rigveda, the oldest scripture of India and one of the oldest in the world. A sage named Vishvamitra is known as its author. At some point, it was even believed in India that if at least a priest was not reciting the mantra, the sun would not rise up at all. Another version of the same story says that the sun would lay captive of the clutches of darkness unless the Gayatri was sung.
The invocation is sometimes used as a mantra for meditation as well, repeated aloud or inside one's mind. In a yoga class, it can be repeated at the beginning or at the end of the class. The version of Sai Baba, a famous Indian sage, is excellent. I also recommend the version of Ravi Shankar.
ॐ भूर्भुव: स्व:
तत्सवितुर्वरेन्यं
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि
धीयो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ॥
Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah
Tat Savitur varenyam
Bargo devasya dimahi
Dhiyo yonah prachodayat.
Translations for the mantra are very numerous and as differrent as these two :
1.) "O thou existence Absolute, Creator of the three dimensions, we contemplate upon thy divine light. May you stimulate our intellect and bestow enlightenment upon us." 'Thou', which means 'you', being the sun.
2.) "O Divine mother, our hearts are filled with darkness. Please make this darkness distant from us and promote illumination within us." The 'Divine Mother' being the Gayatri itself. In India, the Gayatri has been made into a goddess. This is why some scholars translate as 'Divine Mother'. She is the goddess of knowledge and of beauty, like Sarasvati, consort of Brahma.
2. Sahana Vavatu
In many schools, the Sahana Vavatu is recited before the asana practice. These schools include the Sivananda and the Satyananda schools, as well as most of the traditional ashrams such as the Kaivalya Dhama of Lonavla and the Shantiniketan of Rishikesh.
ॐ सहना ववतु। सहनौ भुनक्तु
सह वीर्यं करवावहै
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु
मा विद्विषावहै॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥
Om sahana vavatu sahano bhunaktu
Saha viryam karavavahai
Tejasvi navaditamastu
Ma vidvishavahai
Om shantih shantih shantih.
Om. May He protect us both (teacher and student). May He cause us both to enjoy the bliss of liberation. May we both exert to find out the true meaning of the Scriptures. May our studies be fruitful. May we never quarrel with each other. Om peace, peace, peace.
This invocation is found in several Upanishads among which the Taittiriya Upanishad. It is probably the most famous after the Gayatri. As a shanti mantra, it advocates peace between student and teacher, encouraging both of them to study and to practice yoga, without mentioning any particular god or any particular book. In other words, this prayer is very well suited at the beginning of a yoga class and can be the first to commit to memory.
3. Sham no Mitra
This mantra is very old, like the Gayatri. The gods here are the sun (Mitra), the ocean (Varuna), Indra, the king of the gods, Vishnu and the underlying truth, the god within the other gods, the invisible Brahman. The prayer salutes all these gods and asks each one of them to be good to us and to protect both of us, i.e. teacher and student. It is generally repeated at the beginning of a class. And since the sun is the first mentioned, it is particularly powerful before the sun salutations, Surya Namaskara.
ॐ शं नो मित्रः शं वरुणः।
शं नो भवत्वर्यमा। शं न इन्द्रो बृहस्पतिः।
शं नो विष्णुरुरुक्रमः। नमो ब्रह्मणे। नमस्ते वायो।
त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मासि। त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्म वदिष्यामि।
ऋतं वदिष्यामि। सत्यं वदिष्यामि।
तन्मामवतु। तद्वक्तारमवतु। अवतु माम्। अवतु वक्तारम्॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥
Om sham no mitrah sham varunah. Sham no bhavatvaryama. Sham no indro brihaspatih. Sham no vishnu rurukramah. Namo Brahmane. Namaste vayo. Tvameva pratyaksham brahmasi. Tvameva brahmavadishyami. Ritam vadishyami. Satyam vadishyami. Tanmamavatu. Tadvaktaram avatu. Avatumam avatu vaktaram. Om shantih shantih shantih.
May the sun (Mitra) be good to us! May the ocean (Varuna) be good to us! May the noble god (Aryama) be good to us! May Indra and Brihaspati be good to us! May Vishnu of great strides be good to us! Prostrations to Brahman! Prostrations to you, O wind (Vayu), you indeed are the visible Brahman! I shall proclaim you as the visible Brahman. I shall call you the Just! I shall call you the True! May He protect me! May He protect the teacher! May He protect me! May He protect the teacher! Om peace, peace, peace.
This invocation is found in the Taittiriya Upanishad. To learn this prayer by heart is one of the first task of the Hindu monks.
4. Asato Ma
This mantra is one of the easiest to remember and it is also easy to read and write. Since no particular god is mentioned, it can also be used by anyone who is willing to go from the unreal or world of illusion to the real, from mental darkness to enlightenment, and from samsara, the world of suffering in which most of us are entangled, to heaven.
असतोमा सद्गमय।
तमसोमा ज्योतिर् गमया।
मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥
Asato ma sad gamaya
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
Mrityor ma amritam gamaya
Om shantih shantih shantih.
From the unreal, lead me to the real.
From darkness, lead me to light.
From death, lead me to immortality.
Om peace, peace, peace!
This prayer is found in several upanishads. It is repeated both at the beginning and at the end of a practice. It is one of the three most popular invocations, accepted by all the schools. The other two being the Gayatri and the Sahana Vavatu.
5. Purnamadah
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते।
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥
Om purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudachyate.
Purnasya purnamadaya purnameva vashishyate.
Om shantih shantih shantih.
That is whole. This is whole. From the whole, the whole becomes manifest. From the whole when the whole is negated what remains is again the whole. Om peace, peace, peace.
This prayer is repeated at the end of a teaching or of a practice. It is not found at the beginning but at the end of a group of Upanishads from the Suklayajurveda.
6. Ashtanga Invocation
This is the invocation that is sung before an Ashtanga class as taught by Pattabhi Jois and his followers, today one of the most popular school in the world.
ॐ
वन्दे गुरुनम् चरनरविन्दे
सन्दर्शित स्वात्म सुखव बोधे
निःश्रेयसे जाङ्गलीकायमान
संसार हलहल मोहशान्त्ये ॥
अबहु पुरुषकरम्
शङ्ख चक्रसि धारिनम्
सहस्र शिरसम् श्वेतम्
प्रणाममि पतञ्जलिम् ॥
Om
Vande gurunam charanaravinde
Sandarshita svatma suhkava bodhe
Nishreyase jangalikayamane
Samsara halahala mohashantyai.
Abahu purushakaram
Shankha chakrasi dharinam
Sahasra shirasam shvetam
Pranamami patanjalim.
I bow to the two lotus feet of the Gurus which awaken insight, which are the refuge, the jungle physician, which eliminate the delusion caused by the poisonous herb of Samsara.
I prostrate before the sage Patanjali who has thousands of radiant, white heads and who has assumed the form of a man holding a conch shell, a wheel and a sword.
7. Anusara Invocation
This is the Anusara invocation. Followers of this style of yoga founded by John Friend repeat the mantra at the beginning of their practice and before a teaching. It is a prayer asking for Shiva, the god of yoga, to bestow his blessings, Shiva being recognized as the master or 'guru', and as Brahman, the underlying soul of the universe - Satchitananda.
ॐ
नमः शिवय गुरवे
सत् चित् अनन्द मूर्तये
निश्प्रपञ्चय शान्तय
निर आलम्बय तेजसेष ॥
ॐ
Om
Namah Shivaya gurave
Satchidananda murtaye
Nishprapanchaya shantaya
Niralambaya tejase.
Om
I offer myself to the Light, the Auspicious One,
Who is the True Teacher within and without,
Who assumes the forms of Reality, Consciousness and Bliss,
Who is never absent and is full of peace,
Independent in existence, the vital essence of illumination.
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| A guru writing a text |
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8. Guru Prayer
The guru prayer is the first shloka (stanza) of a famous Sanskrit prayer called the Guru Stotram. A 'stotra' is a hymn of praise. It can be found in the Uttarakhanda section of the Skanda Purana. A Purana is a religious text consisting of stories of gods, sages, heroes and kings. The first Purana was written in the 3rd century BC and the last in the 16th.
गुरुर्ब्रह्माः गुरुर्विष्णु:
गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।
गुरुः साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म
तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Gurur brahma, gurur vishnu
Gurur devo maheshvara
Guru sakshat param brahma
Tasmai gurave namah.
The guru is Brahma (the creator of the universe),
The guru is Vishnu (the protector of the universe),
The guru is Shiva (the destroyer of the universe),
He is the supreme Brahma (the soul of the world).
To that guru I bow.
The guru is a spiritual guide. A guru has to be accepted as such by a disciple and the disciple, in turn, has to be accepted by the guru. Traditionaly, the disciple will study with and serve his guru for a period of twelve years before becoming himself able to teach something to others. Since the guru is like a second mother for the disciple (those who have followed the teaching of a guru are called "twice born", dvija in Sanskrit), he is everything : the creator, the protecor, the liberator, and even the supreme soul that lies within the heart of all sentient beings. How then not to bow to such a saintly person? 'Namah' has the root 'nam' which means 'to salute', 'to bow', etc. In 'namaste', it is the same Sanskrit root, 'nam'.
9. Mahamrtunjaya Mantra
This mantra is usually chanted at the end of a practice and before undertaking a journey. It protects against accident and untimely death. As an invocation to Shiva, here refered to as 'trayambakam', the three (traya) -eyed (ambakam) one, it can be repeated at any time. Shiva has a third eye in the middle of his forehead. Like the Gayatri, it is in the Rig Veda.
ॐ त्रियम्बकं यजामहे
सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनं
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्
मृत्योर्मोक्षिय मामृतात् ॥
Om trayambakam yajamahe
Sugandhim pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva bandhanan
Mrityor mukshiya mamritat.
We Meditate on the Three-eyed reality (Shiva)
Which permeates and nourishes all like a fragrance.
May we be liberated from death,
Even as the cucumber is severed from the vine.
10. Lokah Samastah
This is a Buddhist invocation attributed to the Buddha Gautama himself. He used to say that mantra at the end of his teachings and at the end of the meditation sessions. It has become popular among Buddhist and non-Buddhist circles. Today, it is one of the most important yoga invocations repeated by each and every dedicated yogi at the end of a practice, either aloud or inside their heart.
लोक समस्त सुखिनो भवन्तु ॥
Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu.
May all beings everywhere be happy!
On You Tube, there are different musical renderings of each of these mantras. You can also buy CDs of several of them at Pure retail. Please listen to them if you don't know how to pronounce Sanskrit or if you haven't heard or have forgotten the melody. I added the Devanagari (Sanskrit original writing) to encourage yoga students to learn this delightful script and to provide reading mateial for those who can already read. ॐ तत् सत्। Om Tat Sat!
Steeve
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