“gurur brahmA gurur vishNu gurur dEvO mahEshvaraha
gururEva parabrahmA tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The most powerful verses in the life of a disciple! Guru is the trinity, brahmA-vishNu-mahEshwara. Guru is the supreme soul too, the parabrahmA. Salutations to that supreme master! These are the words that we use to offer gratitude to the master.
“nityam shuddham nirAkAram nirAbhAsam niranjanam
nityabodham chidAnandam gurum brahma namAmyaham ”
I bow down to the guru, my master, who is none other than the Brahman; who is eternal, pure and formless; who is self-effulgent; who is taintless, ever awake, intelligent and blissful; salutations to thee.
“dhyAnamUlam gurur mUrtihi
pUjAmUlam gurOrpadam
mantramUlam gurOrvAkyam
moksha mUlam gurukrupa ”
The root of ‘dhyanam’ or meditation is the master’s form. The root of worship is the lotus feet of the master. The root of mantra is guru’s words. No other mantra is needed, other than the words of guru. And the ultimate blessing is guru’s grace. The root of liberation, moksha is guru’s grace.
“akhandamandalAkAram vyAptam yEna charAcharam
tatpadam darshitam yEna tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The Guru is unbounded like the canopy of the sky. He permeates all the movable and immovable entities in this universe. Everything dwells within guru. He is omnipresent in everything in this universe. My Salutations to that master who showed me my abode, my home; I bow down to him.
“gurur brahmA gurur vishnu gurur dEvo mahEshvaraha
gururEva parabrahmA tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
Guru is the creator, brahmA; guru is the preserver, vishNu; guru is the destroyer (of ignorance), shivA; guru is the supreme soul too, the paramAtmA, the brahman. In the glory of brahmA, vishNu, shiva and the paramAtma, it is only the guru. Salutations to that supreme master; I bow down to him.Guru is the personalized transcendental form of the paramAtma. ParamAtma is ‘sachidAnand’ (sat-chit-anand); and guru is ‘sachidAnandasvarUpam’, the form of brahman. Blessed are those who get this guru, the divine in the human body.
“ajnAnathimirAndhasya jnAnAnjana SalAkayA
chakshurunmIlitam yEna tasmai srI guravE namahA ”
My eyes were covered with the darkness of ignorance. My master opened my eyes by applying the collyrium of knowledge. Salutations to that supreme master; I bow down to him.‘thimiram’ is a disease that affects the eye, that takes away the eye-sight and ‘anjanam’ is a traditional collyruim, eye wash used to prevent ‘thimiram’. Guru is that divinity that cures the blindness of ignorance, and guides to the light of knowledge.Everyday morning the sun comes to open our eyes, but once in lifetimes a guru comes to open our inner eyes, and he carries us through lifetimes thereafter.
“sthAvaram jangamam vyAptam yatkinchit sacharAcharam
tatpadam darshitam yEna tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I bow down to my master, who showed me the one to be known, the divine, who is permeating everything; movable, immovable, sentient, insentient, conscious, unconscious; Salutations to that supreme master.The divine, the paramAtma, pervades the entire universe. But many among us seldom understand this. It is the satguru, who helps us to realize this ultimate truth. He is the window to the divine.
“chinmayam vyApi yatsarvam trailokyam sacharAcharam
tatpadam darshitam yEna tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I salute my master, who showed me through his teachings, the one to be known; the divine; the one inside whom all the three worlds dwell, including the sentient and insentient.The divine is the awareness. And it is the master who is making us aware of the divine. What else can we do other than paying obeisance to that master?
“sarvaSrutiSirOratnavirAjitapadAmbujaha
vEdAntAbujasUryO yah tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I bow down to my master, who is the sun to the lotus of vEdAnta and whose lotus feets are radiant with the jewel of all Srutis; Salutations to that master.When it sees the sun, the lotus blossoms. Knowledge is like that lotus. When it feels the presence of the master, the sadguru, it starts blossoming in every disciple around him. His lotus feet are adorned by all the ‘srutis ‘, the Upanishads. All the Upanishads are at his lotus feet. Even the dust from his lotus feet can change the life of the disciple. Even those dust contains the knowledge of the truth.
“chaitanyah SaSvatah SantO vyOmAtItO niranjanah
bindunAdakalAtItah tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The Guru is who is pure awareness; who is changeless and beyond time; who is peace, beyond space; who is untouched, pure and free from likes and dislikes; who is beyond the manifest and unmanifest; salutations to that guru; I bow down to him.The master is free from everything. Nothing touches him; he is niranjan. Nobody can influence him. Nobody is special to him. He loves everybody with the same intimacy and intensity.He is beyond the manifest and unmanifest; beyond bindu, nAda and kala. (bindu, nAda and kaLA are the subtle aspects of the mystic syllable of sanAtana dharma, ‘aum’)
“jnAnaSaktisamArooDHah taTHvamAlAvibhUshitah
bhuktimuktipradAta cha tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The master who is rooted in the knowledge, that is power; who is adorned with the garland of ‘tatva’, the truth; who bestows the joy of liberation to the seeker; salutations to that supreme master; I bow down to him.The satguru is powerful, for he is the embodiment of the true knowledge. Only he can liberate one from the clutches of mAya.
“anEkajanmasamprApta karmabandha vidAhinE
atmajnAnapradAnEna tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I bow down to the lotus feet of my master who bestows the ultimate self-knowledge and burns up the bondages of the accumulated actions through lifetimes.Through innumerable births we carry forward a lot of accumulated karma. And through out the life we will be under the bondages of these karmas; sanchita karma. These bondages are referred as karma-bandha. Only the satguru can burn these bondages. With one look, one touch, one smile, one word, one blessing, in a fraction of a second he takes everything away; sets his disciple free; without expecting anything in return. Only he is unconditional here.
“SoshaNam bhavasindhoScha jnApanm sArasampadah
gurOh pAdodakam samyak tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I bow down to the satguru whose grace completely dries up the ocean of the samsAra (relative existence – transmigration) and makes one realize the supreme wealth.The satguru is rooted in the knowledge and vision of the srutis, the Upanishads. The flow of wisdom from those roots dries up totally the ocean of transmigration and reveals the essence of all wealth. The ultimate wealth is liberation, freedom of want. Guru takes his disciple to that ultimate wealth.
“na gurOradhikam tatvam na gurOradhikam tapaha
tatvajnAnAt param nAsti tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
Guru is the truth. Guru is the highest purifying austerity. There is nothing superior to that truth. There is nothing superior to that guru. There is no other superior purifying austerity than the guru. There is no other superior knowledge than guru. Oh my master, I bow down to thy lotus feet!
“mannAtah srIjagannAthah madguruh srIjagadguruhu
madAtma sarva bhUtAtmA tasmai srI guravE namaha
My lord is the Lord of this universe. My master is the master of this universe. He is present in me, and all beings; my self is he himself; he is the self of this universe; my master is within me; salutations to that master; I bow down to him.The ultimate truth! You and me are the same! But I never knew that my master! every being in this universe contains him, and he contains everything. He is the ocean, and all beings here are drops of water. All drops are part of the ocean; even if the drops are separated, they show the same properties of the ocean. One day they have to merge in the ocean itself.
“gururAdiranAdishcha guruh paramadaivatam
gurOh parataram nAsti tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The universe begins in the guru; yet he doesn’t have any beginning; there is no end for him too. He is the beginning and beginning-less! He himself is the highest deity; there is none higher than him. And none is superior to him too. Prostrations to that supreme master; I bow down to him.Why we need another ‘god’ when we have a guru? Why we need to bang the head here and there when he is carrying us every moment? He is everywhere, within us, outside us. Just we need to know this truth; just we need to have this conviction.
“brahmAnandam paramasukhadam kEvalam jnAnamUrthim
dvandvAtitam gaganasadrusham tatvamasyAdilakshyam
Ekam nityam vimalamachalam sarvadhIsAkshIbhUtam
bhAvAtItam trigunarahitam sadgurum tam namAmi "
My sadguru, my master is the embodiment of the bliss, the bliss of the paramAtma, the brahman. He is the giver of the supreme happiness, the beatitude. He is the personification of the highest knowledge. He is beyond the duality, the pairs of the opposites. He is untouched by evil. He is like the sky, untouched, vast and endless. He is only one, the permanent, the eternal, the pure, the immovable, the witness of everything, ‘sarvasAkshi’, He is beyond all the ‘gunas’; beyond thoughts; beyond attributes. Oh my master, I bow down to thee. Please accept my obeisance.
“tvamEva mAtA cha pitA tvamEva
tvamEva bandhuScha sakhA tvamEva
tvamEva vidyA draviNam tvamEva
tvamEva saRvam mama dEvadEvA
O’ my master, the god of all the gods, you are only my mother, father, kin, friend, knowledge and wealth. You are everything to me. I am yours.
gururEva parabrahmA tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The most powerful verses in the life of a disciple! Guru is the trinity, brahmA-vishNu-mahEshwara. Guru is the supreme soul too, the parabrahmA. Salutations to that supreme master! These are the words that we use to offer gratitude to the master.
“nityam shuddham nirAkAram nirAbhAsam niranjanam
nityabodham chidAnandam gurum brahma namAmyaham ”
I bow down to the guru, my master, who is none other than the Brahman; who is eternal, pure and formless; who is self-effulgent; who is taintless, ever awake, intelligent and blissful; salutations to thee.
“dhyAnamUlam gurur mUrtihi
pUjAmUlam gurOrpadam
mantramUlam gurOrvAkyam
moksha mUlam gurukrupa ”
The root of ‘dhyanam’ or meditation is the master’s form. The root of worship is the lotus feet of the master. The root of mantra is guru’s words. No other mantra is needed, other than the words of guru. And the ultimate blessing is guru’s grace. The root of liberation, moksha is guru’s grace.
“akhandamandalAkAram vyAptam yEna charAcharam
tatpadam darshitam yEna tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The Guru is unbounded like the canopy of the sky. He permeates all the movable and immovable entities in this universe. Everything dwells within guru. He is omnipresent in everything in this universe. My Salutations to that master who showed me my abode, my home; I bow down to him.
“gurur brahmA gurur vishnu gurur dEvo mahEshvaraha
gururEva parabrahmA tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
Guru is the creator, brahmA; guru is the preserver, vishNu; guru is the destroyer (of ignorance), shivA; guru is the supreme soul too, the paramAtmA, the brahman. In the glory of brahmA, vishNu, shiva and the paramAtma, it is only the guru. Salutations to that supreme master; I bow down to him.Guru is the personalized transcendental form of the paramAtma. ParamAtma is ‘sachidAnand’ (sat-chit-anand); and guru is ‘sachidAnandasvarUpam’, the form of brahman. Blessed are those who get this guru, the divine in the human body.
“ajnAnathimirAndhasya jnAnAnjana SalAkayA
chakshurunmIlitam yEna tasmai srI guravE namahA ”
My eyes were covered with the darkness of ignorance. My master opened my eyes by applying the collyrium of knowledge. Salutations to that supreme master; I bow down to him.‘thimiram’ is a disease that affects the eye, that takes away the eye-sight and ‘anjanam’ is a traditional collyruim, eye wash used to prevent ‘thimiram’. Guru is that divinity that cures the blindness of ignorance, and guides to the light of knowledge.Everyday morning the sun comes to open our eyes, but once in lifetimes a guru comes to open our inner eyes, and he carries us through lifetimes thereafter.
“sthAvaram jangamam vyAptam yatkinchit sacharAcharam
tatpadam darshitam yEna tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I bow down to my master, who showed me the one to be known, the divine, who is permeating everything; movable, immovable, sentient, insentient, conscious, unconscious; Salutations to that supreme master.The divine, the paramAtma, pervades the entire universe. But many among us seldom understand this. It is the satguru, who helps us to realize this ultimate truth. He is the window to the divine.
“chinmayam vyApi yatsarvam trailokyam sacharAcharam
tatpadam darshitam yEna tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I salute my master, who showed me through his teachings, the one to be known; the divine; the one inside whom all the three worlds dwell, including the sentient and insentient.The divine is the awareness. And it is the master who is making us aware of the divine. What else can we do other than paying obeisance to that master?
“sarvaSrutiSirOratnavirAjitapadAmbujaha
vEdAntAbujasUryO yah tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I bow down to my master, who is the sun to the lotus of vEdAnta and whose lotus feets are radiant with the jewel of all Srutis; Salutations to that master.When it sees the sun, the lotus blossoms. Knowledge is like that lotus. When it feels the presence of the master, the sadguru, it starts blossoming in every disciple around him. His lotus feet are adorned by all the ‘srutis ‘, the Upanishads. All the Upanishads are at his lotus feet. Even the dust from his lotus feet can change the life of the disciple. Even those dust contains the knowledge of the truth.
“chaitanyah SaSvatah SantO vyOmAtItO niranjanah
bindunAdakalAtItah tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The Guru is who is pure awareness; who is changeless and beyond time; who is peace, beyond space; who is untouched, pure and free from likes and dislikes; who is beyond the manifest and unmanifest; salutations to that guru; I bow down to him.The master is free from everything. Nothing touches him; he is niranjan. Nobody can influence him. Nobody is special to him. He loves everybody with the same intimacy and intensity.He is beyond the manifest and unmanifest; beyond bindu, nAda and kala. (bindu, nAda and kaLA are the subtle aspects of the mystic syllable of sanAtana dharma, ‘aum’)
“jnAnaSaktisamArooDHah taTHvamAlAvibhUshitah
bhuktimuktipradAta cha tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The master who is rooted in the knowledge, that is power; who is adorned with the garland of ‘tatva’, the truth; who bestows the joy of liberation to the seeker; salutations to that supreme master; I bow down to him.The satguru is powerful, for he is the embodiment of the true knowledge. Only he can liberate one from the clutches of mAya.
“anEkajanmasamprApta karmabandha vidAhinE
atmajnAnapradAnEna tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I bow down to the lotus feet of my master who bestows the ultimate self-knowledge and burns up the bondages of the accumulated actions through lifetimes.Through innumerable births we carry forward a lot of accumulated karma. And through out the life we will be under the bondages of these karmas; sanchita karma. These bondages are referred as karma-bandha. Only the satguru can burn these bondages. With one look, one touch, one smile, one word, one blessing, in a fraction of a second he takes everything away; sets his disciple free; without expecting anything in return. Only he is unconditional here.
“SoshaNam bhavasindhoScha jnApanm sArasampadah
gurOh pAdodakam samyak tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
I bow down to the satguru whose grace completely dries up the ocean of the samsAra (relative existence – transmigration) and makes one realize the supreme wealth.The satguru is rooted in the knowledge and vision of the srutis, the Upanishads. The flow of wisdom from those roots dries up totally the ocean of transmigration and reveals the essence of all wealth. The ultimate wealth is liberation, freedom of want. Guru takes his disciple to that ultimate wealth.
“na gurOradhikam tatvam na gurOradhikam tapaha
tatvajnAnAt param nAsti tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
Guru is the truth. Guru is the highest purifying austerity. There is nothing superior to that truth. There is nothing superior to that guru. There is no other superior purifying austerity than the guru. There is no other superior knowledge than guru. Oh my master, I bow down to thy lotus feet!
“mannAtah srIjagannAthah madguruh srIjagadguruhu
madAtma sarva bhUtAtmA tasmai srI guravE namaha
My lord is the Lord of this universe. My master is the master of this universe. He is present in me, and all beings; my self is he himself; he is the self of this universe; my master is within me; salutations to that master; I bow down to him.The ultimate truth! You and me are the same! But I never knew that my master! every being in this universe contains him, and he contains everything. He is the ocean, and all beings here are drops of water. All drops are part of the ocean; even if the drops are separated, they show the same properties of the ocean. One day they have to merge in the ocean itself.
“gururAdiranAdishcha guruh paramadaivatam
gurOh parataram nAsti tasmai srI guravE namaha ”
The universe begins in the guru; yet he doesn’t have any beginning; there is no end for him too. He is the beginning and beginning-less! He himself is the highest deity; there is none higher than him. And none is superior to him too. Prostrations to that supreme master; I bow down to him.Why we need another ‘god’ when we have a guru? Why we need to bang the head here and there when he is carrying us every moment? He is everywhere, within us, outside us. Just we need to know this truth; just we need to have this conviction.
“brahmAnandam paramasukhadam kEvalam jnAnamUrthim
dvandvAtitam gaganasadrusham tatvamasyAdilakshyam
Ekam nityam vimalamachalam sarvadhIsAkshIbhUtam
bhAvAtItam trigunarahitam sadgurum tam namAmi "
My sadguru, my master is the embodiment of the bliss, the bliss of the paramAtma, the brahman. He is the giver of the supreme happiness, the beatitude. He is the personification of the highest knowledge. He is beyond the duality, the pairs of the opposites. He is untouched by evil. He is like the sky, untouched, vast and endless. He is only one, the permanent, the eternal, the pure, the immovable, the witness of everything, ‘sarvasAkshi’, He is beyond all the ‘gunas’; beyond thoughts; beyond attributes. Oh my master, I bow down to thee. Please accept my obeisance.
“tvamEva mAtA cha pitA tvamEva
tvamEva bandhuScha sakhA tvamEva
tvamEva vidyA draviNam tvamEva
tvamEva saRvam mama dEvadEvA
O’ my master, the god of all the gods, you are only my mother, father, kin, friend, knowledge and wealth. You are everything to me. I am yours.
