Simple Slokas - Upon waking up (Tamil and English)

Simple Sloka to recite upon waking up - look at the palm side of your right hand (or both hands) and recite the sloka.

 

 

Tamil:

 

கராக்ரே வஸதே லக்ஷ்மி : கரமத்தயே சரஸ்வதீ:

கரமூல து கோவிந்த : ப்ரபாதே காரா தர்சனம்.

English:

Karaagre Vasate Lakshmi Kara-Madhye Saraswati |

Kara-Muule Tu Govindah Prabhaate Kara-Darshanam ||

Meaning:

1: At the Top of the Palm dwell Devi Lakshmi, and at the Middle of the Palm dwell Devi Saraswati,

2: At the Bottom of the Palm dwells Sri Govinda; Therefore one should Look at one's Palms in the Early Morning and contemplate on them.

Occassionally, the last line is modified in some versions to "Sitaa" or "Durga" instead of "Govindah"

 Simple Slokas - Vishnu (Tamil and English)

 

Simple but powerful Vishnu mantra anyone can recite easily is

 

On Namo Narayana 

ஓம் நமோ நாராயணா 

 

Simple Slokas - Shiva

 Simple Slokas for Shiva

The simplest Shiva Mantra anyone can recite anytime is:

 

Om Shivaya Namah: (or) Om Nama Sivayah:

ஓம் சிவாய நம:  (or) ஓம் நமசிவாய:

Simple Slokas - Hanuman

 Hanuman slokas in Tamil and English

 

Hanuman

 

Yatra Yatra

Tamil:

யத்ர யத்ர  ரகுநாத கீர்த்தனம்
தத்ர தத்ர க்ருதமஸ்த காஞ்சலீம்
பாஷ் பவாரி பரிபூர்ண லோசனம்
மாரூதீம் நமத ராக்ஷஸாந்தகம்

English:

Yatra yathra raghunatha Keerthanam
thathra thathra kruthamasta kaanjaleem
pashpavari paripoona lochanam
maruthim namatha raakshanthagam

Meaning:

Wherever Rama's name is uttered (said: yatra), Maurthi (Hanuman) is present, with tears in his eyes and head bowed to lord Rama in devotion. Our salutations to Maruthi, the destroyer of rakshasaas.

 

Simple Slokas - Murugan

Simple Slokas - Murugan

Tamil (from Kandar Anuboothi):

உருவாய் அருவாய், உளதாய் இலதாய்

மருவாய் மலராய், மணியாய் ஒளியாய்க்

கருவாய் உயிராய்க், கதியாய் விதியாய்க்

குருவாய் வருவாய், அருள்வாய் குகனே.

English:

Uruvai aruvai, ulathai elathai

maruvai malaraai, maniyai oliyaai

karuvai uyirai, kathiyai vithiyai

guruvai varuvai, arulvai guhane.

Meaning:

 

O! Lord Guha (Muruga)! who has the form; who has no form;

you are both being and non being;

you are the flower and the fragrance of the flower;

you are the gem and its light;

you are the embryo; and the life (body and soul);

you are the fate and also the destiny;

you as a guru Guha come and bestow your blessings;

 

Notes (translated from a descriptive tamil text):

O! Lord Muruga! who show his form with six face, twelve shoulders;

who is without form - without name, character or symbol;

being for those who trust; not being for those who deny;

as a flower; as a fragrance from that flower;

like a diamond (precious gem);

like the light that diamond emits (a gem won’t emit light in darkness; here lord muruga is the light and the gem - both in one);

Being an embryo for the living creatures; being life (soul) in all those creatures;

the one who drives their fate (deeds) and who guides them to mukthi;

Come as a guru and bestow your blessings upon me.

Murugan is considered a guru with the story of teaching his father the meaning of Pranava matra.

- some online sources discern the post with meanings derived from the words as-is: example - varuvai has two meanings - come as well as income. Here arunagiri is not asking for wealth (material) rather than ask for his blessings.

 

- karuvai uyirai kathiyai vithiyai: the embryo and the life; once born the deeds and the fate; and he is the one to give us mukthi;

 

- Here Arunagiri considers Lord Muruga as his Guru (Arunagirinathar’s life story) and ask him for his blessings as a guru. In tamil, many texts refers to Guru coming before father, mother and God.

 

- Lord Murugan has thousands of names; his favorite ones are Murugan, Kumaran and Guhan (Krupandana Variyar discourse: Murugan perumai - Arunagirinathar: 

Kandar Anuboothi); hence apt to call him Guhan in this verse.

 

Simple Slokas - Ganesha (In Tamil and English)

Simple Slokas - Ganesha 

Lord Ganesha

Shuklam Baradaram

Tamil:

சுக்லாம் பரதரம் விஷ்ணும் சஸி வர்ணம் சதுர்புஜம்

பிரசன்ன வதனம் த்யாயேத் ஸர்வ விக்நோப சாந்தயே

English:
Suklam baradaram vishnum
Shashi varnam chaturbhujam
Prasanna vadanam dhyaayoth

Sarva vighnoba shantaye

Meaning:

One who wears white colored clothes; who is present everywhere;
whose skin is pleasant like moon; one who has four arms;
I meditate on you to remove all obstacles;

Puja room minimalism

Does your puja room look like this?

78 items. Yes, that many pictures or idols or props of God were in my puja room. If we count individual deities it went well above 130 - including a picture of Shakti peetams with more than 50 devis. Think how much time will be spent on maintenance and upkeep daily.


The Brahma sutra of Hinduism says, "Ekam Brahm” - meaning there is only one god.


How is your pooja room setup? Overflowing with multiple god pictures and idols collected over many years? Overflowing packets of vibuthi and kumkum packets from every temple visit? When you are ready to worship, do you spend hours cleaning and decorating?

Like many household items, puja items and pictures of deities accumulate over time. Some are bought when visiting temples on a pilgrimage, some gifted by friends and well wishers and some are passed onto the next generation. Do you keep adding them to your puja place so as not to offend anyone, but worrying how to manage the place? Like household clutter, what should be a place for prayer and meditation will ultimately become a chore to keep up.


How many gods do you actually pray to daily?


When I visit friends, I regularly see around 30-50 individual idols or photos of various gods in their puja place - some are neatly organized but many times the place could use a makeover. Many pictures were usually of the same god too.



On average, most of us pray to less than 5 gods on a daily basis - Ganesha, shiva/Vishnu, some form of Amman and a family god. If this is the case, what are we doing with the rest of them? Are we just using those God’s pictures as decorative item? -if the daily puja takes 5 to 15 minutes, how long will it take to clean, decorate and worship all 30+ god forms?


Do you feed all these gods?


A quick inventory of puja place - mine and few friends: around 5 ganesha pictures/idols (wedding time idols given to newlyweds), 8 murugan pictures from different temples, many amman pictures from south india (Meenakshi, lakshmi, Mahishasura marthini, muthu mariyamman,...), multiple Shridi sai photos, Vishu forms, shiva pictures from multiple temples, … Well you get the idea.


Literally after bathing the Ganesha idols, i pray to six gods daily - that's all, During festivals, dusting and adoring all pictures with kumkum and flowers takes an hour.


When a guru ji visited a friend's place, he commented, do you really feed all these gods daily and properly? That was an eye opener. It is our tradition to offer naivedya to gods. Indirectly he was hinting that if you pray (or keep them at home) to these many gods, make sure you put in enough effort daily.


Tradition


The best thing about Hinduism is its simplicity.


You want ganesha but no idol of him, all you need to do is make turmeric paste, and voila you have ganesha to worship.







To invite any god, all one need is a kalasha (vessel with water and coconut on top) - This is how its still done today all over the world.






In temples, how many deities do you see in the Sanctum sanctorum (Garbhagraha or moolasthanam) One or too many? Just the primary deity sometimes with their consorts - many times only a single lamp is lit. Your focus is clear.


Why not follow these simple principles at home?


Minimalism or declutter?



De-cluttering is basically organizing things for nicer presentation and easy access - very minimal stuff is removed.


Very few can do a good job in de-cluttering and presenting it nicely. Remember feeding the gods early? You still have to do it and it will take time.


Instead, the best option is to minimize. One word of caution - for many of us, there are sentimental and superstitious items in puja places that we will find very hard to part with. Take it slow and even do it multiple times.


Identify the Gods you pray to daily. They make the cut.


If there are duplicates of the same deity, pick one or two favorites (example: if you have six pictures of lord muruga from arupdai veedu - six abodes of muruga - pick the family deity first, next the temple you live close to or a favorite).


If you find a god’s picture hard to part with, at least find a place to store them - a box right in the puja room - this way the pictures or idols are always accessible. If you find yourselves reaching for it often, you know they belong in the main place.


Do the same with accessories - do you really need three incense stick holders or multiple aarthi plates or multiple sizes in lamps daily?

Sometimes, donating to others will be helpful - I used to get Tirupathi calendars every year - when given to friends ended right in their puja room. Some smaller items may find no takers and eventually need to be discarded.
 

Motivation:


When i was confused and searched for answers few things were clear.


There is no rule stating you need to worship God X on day 1, God Y on day 2 and so on. In fact, the opposite is true - be faithful to your favorite god and surrender totally. That is all is required.


He or She may be Shiva, Vishnu, Muruga, Rama, Balaji, Ganesha, Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Hanuman or anyone else.


Pattinathar’s quote comes to mind: (tamil) “Kadhatra oosiyum vaaradhu kaan kadai vazhike!!!” - Even an eyeless needle won’t accompany you in your last journey (Even an eyeless needle is useless when you die). He had so much wealth, but figured out the true attachment lies with one and only god. Every material possession is ultimately worthless in this pursuit of God.


He sang beautifully: Ondru Endriru Dheivam Undu Endriru - When you pray - focus your mind on god, believe in that god; detach yourself from any material wealth you think is higher than god.


Do we need anything else? Do you think the goddess Lakshmi will complain if you don’t adorn her with silk sarees and diamond jewellery? Shiva does not wish for abhisheka with 100 items - if you pray to him heartily and offer a Bilva leaf, he is the happiest.


We see so many new Shirdi temples built all over India. The grandiose of those temples is impressive. But truly what Sai baba wanted from all is to help the unfortunate, feed the poor and cloth and shelter the needy.


Sanctum in the house


Many puja rooms are a place where things go in - one way. Sooner or later, the main purpose of doing puja is lost and it becomes a dreaded chore to clean and maintain the place.


Of any de-cluttering or downsizing project, puja room is the hardest for many due to personal beliefs and attachments.


Just remember there is no specific number here - whatever you feel is right and will serve the purpose is just enough. It may take time and multiple rounds, but don’t give up. Keep at it. One day, it’ll truly be the perfect place. Your mind will be clear.


Make your puja room a place to pray and meditate.



Om Shanthi!!!