Learning Ashtanga Opening Mantra

Before class begins often you will hear me chant the Ashtanga Opening Mantra. We learn in many ways, seeing, writing, repeating, and hearing the mantra. I will start offering a call and response option in class, like in the video, for any student that may want to learn. It's a lovely prayer to the teacher, however and who ever is a teacher in your life, the prayer is a metaphoric poem to remind us of what is eternal within us. It is a way to honor the teachers that came before us, that have passed the lineage of Yoga down through the practice. It is a way to honor the teacher within in us and in facing life open and present.

I learned from listening to my teacher David Garrigues and from listening and practicing with the Joey Miles (of Pure Valley Ashtanga Yoga) Youtube video above.

Enjoy!

Ashtanga Opening Mantra

Om

Vande Gurunam Charanaravinde

Sandarshita Svatma Sukava Bodhe

Nih Sreyase Jangalikayamane

Samsara Halahala Mohashantyai

Abahu Purushakaram Shankhacakrsi Dharinam

Sahasra Sirasam Svetam

Pranamami Patanjalim

Om

Translation:

Om

I bow to the lotus feet of the Supreme Guru

which awaken insight into the happiness of pure Being,

which are the refuge, the jungle physician,

which eliminate the delusion caused by the poisonous herb of Samsara (conditioned existence).

I prostrate before the sage Patanjali

who has thousands of radiant, white heads (as the divine serpent, Ananta) and

who has, as far as his arms, assumed the form of a man

holding a conch shell (divine sound), a wheel (discus of light or infinite time) and a sword (discrimination).

Om

Below is another lengthier translation of the meaning of the prayer

https://www.ashtangayogadarsana.com/articles/ashtanga-opening-closing-mantra.

The opening verse articulates gratitude for all the teachers who passed on the teachings of yoga.

The second verse explains that the gurus we bow down to support us in understanding that happiness is inside every being and does not need to be looked for in the outside world.

Stopping to look for happiness in outside objects, is the precondition for experiencing freedom. The comparison with the jungles physician as one who creates healing from the inside, emphasises that we own all the tools to discover our own happiness.

To experience happiness, we have to change the way we see things. Through the practice of yoga we can remove the conditioning of our minds, so that we can see things the way they are and not through the filter of our experiences.

One of those gurus, also translated as “removers of darkness” who explains to us how to use everything that is inside us, to experience happiness and freedom, instead of suffering, is Patanjali. Pantajali is described in the second part of the Ashtanga Yoga Opening Mantra, and as this verse states, from toe to shoulders, he manifests in the form of a human being.

In this form he holds a conch, a discus and a sword, which are to be understood as metaphors. The typical Indian conch which is referred to here is white and hollow, characteristics which suggest its purity, creates the sound OM and is used in Indian religious ceremonies. In the context of the opening mantra it represents the call for purity.

The discus or wheel of time represents the abilities to untangle and cut off the conditionings and tangles in the mind which we collected and created in our past lifetime.

At last the sword, as the strongest tool, allows us to cut through inherited and primordial conditionings, which are the most difficult to let go of.

Together, the conch, discus, and sword are our inner tools, the resolution of delusion.

Pantanjali has 1000 white or transparent heads. With white (light) or transparency being the colour of purity, Pantajali’s manifestation represents purity and brings light and clarity into the practitioner's mind, which allows letting go of fears and anxiety. The heads are a metaphor for the complexity and different roles of each human being and their past, present and future. At the same time, they represent the comprehensive knowledge of the yoga sutras.

The closing verse completes the Ashtanga Yoga Opening mantra by bowing down to Pantanjali as the representation of the devotion to purity.