• Table of Contents
  • To That Guru
  • Guru Purnima Message by Swami Rama
  • Guru by Swami Rama
  • Mastering Yoga Nidra by Swami Veda Bharati
  • Anniversary Celebrations by Dr. Shirin Venkat
  • The End of Children's School Year by Mónika Bertalan
  • The Grace of the Guru by Aditi M. Gaur
  • An Intangible Beauty by Daniele Belloni
  • Dear Yoga Mentor, My Question Is ...
  • Walk Up to Guru Purnima 2014 by Joanne Sullivan (Divya)
  • What Is Mastery in Yoga? by Swami Veda Bharati
  • New Book Published: Anant Ki Khoj by AHYMSIN Publishers
  • Some Coming Attractions at SRSG
  • 2014 Events and Beyond
  • Full Moon Meditation Dates
  • Location of our SRSG ashram
• AHYMSIN Newsletter Archive

To That Guru

The Guru Vandana, Guru Prayer

ॐ गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः।
गुरुः साक्षात्परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः॥१॥

gurur brahmā gurur viṣṇur gurur devo maheśvaraḥ,
guruḥ sākṣāt paraṁ brahma tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ.

Guru who is Brahmā [the Creator], Viṣṇu [the Maintainer] and Śiva [the Great Lord through whom all things return to their origin]. To that Guru who is the direct experience of Brahman, salutations.

The Guru Vandana, Guru Prayer, is from the Guru Gītā in the Skanda-Purāṇa. The Guru Vandana, Guru Prayer is in the Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama Handbook, if you have a copy.

To hear Swami Rama sing the Guru Vandana, please use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8UcrJ19VCU

What is Brahman?

Swami Rama wrote: “The word Brahman is derived from the Sanskrit verb root bṛha or bṛhi meaning expansion, knowledge, or all-pervasiveness. This word is always of a neuter gender; it represents Absolute Reality beyond the concept of male or female and all other dualities. Brahman is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent; it is the very nature of one’s true Self. That Absolute Reality, that Supreme Consciousness, which is never affected by the ever-changing nature of the world, is Brahman. That which alone exists and allows the entire universe to appear within itself is called Brahman. That Brahman is no different from oneself; all of humanity is Brahman. From this point of view, all people are essentially one and the same. Placing duality and diversity within humanity is the greatest loss, and realizing the oneness within and without is the highest gain.”

Akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalākāram Mantra

अखण्ड-मण्डलाकारम् व्याप्तम् येन चराचरम्।
तत्पदम् दर्शितम् येन तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमह्॥

akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalākāram vyāptam yena carācaram|
tatpadam darśitam yena tasmai śrī gurave namah||

 (Which) pervades the entire unbroken form of the circle (of creation), moving and unmoving.
To that beautiful and benevolent Guru through whom that state was revealed (to me), salutations

This is an excerpt from a writing about the Akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalākāram mantra by Swami Veda Bharati; the writing, which has a longer explanation, can be found at http://ahymsin.org/main/swami-veda-bharati/akhanda-mandalkram-mantra.html