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.
Click here to learn more about the self-study program of these chants