All Chants

Learn Vedic Chants the Ancient Way

These chants are from the self-study program: Learn vedic chants the ancient way. If you are interested in learning one, some or all of these chants, read on here. At the bottom of this page is an interview with Swamini Saralananda about Vedic chants and mantra singing.

Here is an overview of all 11 Vedic chants:

Sahana Vavatu, Shanti Patah

Sahana Vavatu is also known as Shanti Patah. It is used before any student-teacher relationship starts. That could be at the beginning of a Yoga class, the beginning of a Sanskrit study class, any kind of class that starts. It speaks to the relationship between teacher and student.

Here is the meaning translated from Sanskrit: “May he protect us both. May he nourish us both. May we exert ourselves with sincere energy, commitment. May all that we study be brilliant. May we have no negative feelings. Peace. Peace. Peace. “

Om shanti shanti shanti means peace be in the cosmos, peace be in the immediate environment and peace be from within myself.

Asato Ma

Asato ma is a great, simple but very deep chant that can be used any time of the day. It means: Lead us from untruth to truth. Lead us from darkness to light. Lead us from mortality to immortality. Peace be in the cosmos. Peace be in the immediate environment. Peace be from within myself.

Saraswati

Saraswati stands for learning, memory, arts, language. Anything to do with learning. Traditionally, it is chanted before study. So whenever you have a project that you are about to begin that has to do with learning, memory, arts, language, this is a great chant to start your project with.

Purnamadaf

Purnamadaf is a very profound chant. The meaning of it has been discussed in many big, thick books. This chant is almost like a Koan where you just sit with it until the meaning reveals itself to you. So, here is the translation. It goes like this: That is whole. This is whole. Taking this from that is still only whole.

Western Science has figured out a similar thing, which is, that energy never disappears, it simply changes form. It is in a similar vein that we contemplate life through this chant.

Purnamadaf helps us to remember that everything is changing. So, if there is something that you struggle with right now, this might be a good chant to realise that it is all one, that we are one and that energy is constantly changing, so this too shall change.

Shruti Smriti

Shruti Smriti is used at the gurukalam where Swami Dayananda Saraswati teaches. He has one gurukalam in Pennsylvania and three in India. This is a homage to the lineage of this teaching.

The translations might sound a little bit unfamiliar to the western mind but I want to share it with you anyways.

“I salute the feet of the Lord Shankara, who is the abode of Shruti. Shruti are the Vedas, what is heard. Smriti what is collected and Puranas, all the epics: Ramayana, Mahabharata.

Shankara is the repository of compassion who bestows happiness onto the world. I salute again and again Shankara who is Lord Shiva and Badarayana who is Lord Vishnu, the venerable ones who wrote the Brahma Sūtras and the commentaries.

Salutations to Lord Dakshinamurthy who is all pervasive like space but who appears as though divided as Lord, teacher and self.”

Shankara is the master of all the Indian teachings. He has written commentaries on all of them. He has mastered them. And, in being that teacher, who made the commentaries on them, he’s also the wealth spring of compassion for humanity.

So, if you are at a place in your life where you want to understand the meaning of your life, the meaning of what is happening to you, this is a good way to ask for more knowledge, to go back to the lineage, to go back to Shankara and ask for his compassion.

The name Shankara means the giver of auspiciousness or in the western language, we would say the giver of blessings.

This chant is mostly used in studies of classical Vedanta. The last line who appears divided as Lord, teacher and self refers to Advaita Vedanta. Advaita means there is no separation between God and self.

Kara Charana

Kara Charan is a shloka. (See also the video with the interview with Swamini Saralananda) This is a great chant to be done every night before going to bed because it talks about all the things that we have done and might not have done during the day that brought harm, that we could have done better.

The Sanskrit translation is, “Sins born of actions of the body, hands, feet, speech, hearing, eyes or mentally, things which should have been done or not been done, may all these be quelled.”

If we walk through a meadow we might, by sheer walking through that meadow, hurt the grass, what is underneath our feet, we might step on a bug or a small critter and kill it. Even actions where we are unconscious that they were hurtful, may these be nullified.

As well as things that we might have omitted. Things we knew, that would have been a good idea to do, but we did not do it. May all these actions be nullified.

This is a great chant before bed to make peace with everything that was on that day and give it over to the universe, to God, to a higher force.

Tryambakam, Mrityunjaya Mantra

Tryambakam, the Mrityunjaya mantra means conquering death. The Sanskrit translation is: “We worship the three-eyed fragrant one, which is Shiva. Who gives ever increasing wellness and prosperity. Save us from the bondage of death like even the melon separates from its stem (meaning: very easily). Let us not turn away from Moksha. Moksha is liberation.”

The Mrityunjaya Mantra is a great chant for when there is fear, or when you feel like a chapter in your life is coming to an end. It helps that transition from one chapter completing and a new one starting. It speaks of the image of a melon or pumpkin that has grown on a vine and is now big enough and separates easily from the stem.

This chant helps with those transitions in life that feel like small deaths, maybe the death of the ego, death of a condition or habit. It is a plea to make those transitions be easy. This is a wonderful mantra to help with an easeful transition.

Om Bhur Bhuvas, Gayatri Mantra

Om Bhur Bhuvas, the Gayatri Mantra has been quite popular through Kirtans and pop songs around the world. (See also the video with the interview with Swamini Saralananda)

It is a dedication to God as the sun. Loosely translated, we can say, we meditate upon the sacred light of God as the sun. May he illumine our minds.

The Sanskrit translation is, “Om is the Lord who is all the three worlds. Bhu is Earth. Bhuvaha, everything above the earth. Suvaha, whatever is beyond our perception. That is to be worshipped. We invoke as the whole cosmos deity like the sun, free from all darkness and ignorance. The one who burns all ignorance. The all knowing. May he brighten all our minds.”

A word of caution about the Gayatri Mantra. The Gayatri Mantra has been coveted and been secret for a long time. So that only those who are very serious in wanting to be totally free in their minds, having Moksha, were given this Mantra.

We in the West say, ignorance is bliss. The word of caution is, that if you really, really want to see yourself with all your darkness, all the blind spots you have, you might actually see the self-hatred that you still have within yourself. And to not have to face that is bliss. Having to face that takes a lot of courage. And for that, the Gayatri Mantra has been created, has been transmitted from teacher to student.

And so if you are ready to lift the veil of ignorance about yourself, about life, then go ahead and invoke the Gayatri Mantra. Chant the Gayatri Mantra. If there are places where you are quite happy with things as they are, and you don’t want to change it, stay away from the Gayatri Mantra.

But for those who are really, really, really willing and have the courage and also have the support to  look at themselves, look at life, this is a great mantra to illumine, to free ourselves from the darkness within and outside of us and the ignorance within and outside of us.

Om Namo Bhagavate

Om Namo Bhagavate. Here the Sanskrit translation goes like this, “Salutation unto Lord Dakshinamurthy. I pray for me: wealth, memory, clarity of wisdom.”

The chant addresses Dakshinamurthy which is the Lord, the teacher and self.

Wealth is not only money. It’s really abundance of life, to open up to the abundance that is there, that the universe always provides for us.

And, we pray for memory. What good does it to learn and to evolve when we forget?

And, clarity of wisdom. So that the wisdom is something that is with us, with every decision that we make. We are faced with so many decisions every single day, small and big ones. Therefore it is a great blessing to have the clarity of wisdom on our side.

Ganesha

The last two chants are dedicated to Ganesha and chanted by Swamini Saralananda herself. Ganesha is the creator and remover of obstacles. For the longest time, I only knew Ganesha as the remover of obstacles. I was quite surprised when I learned that he’s also the creator.

After sitting with this new information for a while, it made sense. Ganesha helps us by putting obstacles in our life. Helps us to see how far we have come. How much we have grown and evolved. How much strength and courage we have now.

And if you have obstacles in your life and would like them to get eased away, ask Ganesha for help with either one of these two chants.

Interview with Swamini Saralananda Saraswati

Below is an interview with Swamini Saralananda Saraswati about Vedic chants. If you are interested in learning one or more of these chants in an original way, click here.