More deities
Guru nama-mantra
ॐ श्री गुरवे नमः
Simple reading
Om shree gu-ra-ve na-mah
Oṁ Śrī Gurave Namaḥ
About this mantra
The short bow to the Guru, whoever and wherever one's teacher is. It keeps a lifelong account straight: nothing one knows arrived without a hand that passed it on.
Meaning
Om, salutations to the revered Guru. Gu is darkness, ru its removal, says the Guru Gita: the teacher's whole office etymologised into two syllables. The mantra deliberately names no one. It bows to whoever has stood in that office for you, and to the principle above them all, that light in a mind was always lit from another lamp.
Learn it by heart
Say the first line until it comes without reading, then add the next line and say both, until the whole mantra comes on its own.
Whole mantra
This mantra is a single line. Learn it whole, then add it to your review deck so it comes back for a check.
ॐ श्री गुरवे नमः
Oṁ Śrī Gurave Namaḥ
0not said yet
Aim for eleven. Stop reading as soon as the whole mantra comes on its own.
Progress stays on this device.
When to recite it
Guru Purnima and Thursdays; recited before study and before teaching, and at the memory of anyone who removed darkness, parents and mentors included.
Word by word
- ॐoṁ
- the primordial sound
- श्री गुरवेśrī gurave
- to the revered teacher
- नमःnamaḥ
- I bow, salutations
Source: Traditional nāma-mantra (guru-paramparā)