Universal
Tvameva Mata
त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव । त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव त्वमेव सर्वं मम देवदेव ॥
Simple reading
Tva-me-va maa-taa cha pi-taa tva-me-va, tva-me-va ban-dhush-cha sa-khaa tva-me-va, tva-me-va vid-yaa dra-vi-nam tva-me-va, tva-me-va sar-vam ma-ma de-va de-va
Tvam eva mātā ca pitā tvam eva, tvam eva bandhuś ca sakhā tvam eva, tvam eva vidyā draviṇaṁ tvam eva, tvam eva sarvaṁ mama deva-deva
About this mantra
The verse of total belonging, from the Pāṇḍava Gītā, a collection of verses of surrender to Vishnu, spoken mostly by figures of the Mahabharata. 'Tvam eva', you alone, is said seven times in four lines; the verse is built on that one repeated word.
Meaning
You alone are my mother and my father; you alone my kin and my friend; you alone knowledge and wealth; you are my all, O god of gods. The verse works by exhaustion. Parent, kin, friend, learning, means: every support a human life leans on is handed over one by one, until 'my everything' is inventory rather than poetry. It closes worship because it is where worship arrives.
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.
Line 1 of 2
त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ।
Tvam eva mātā ca pitā tvam eva, tvam eva bandhuś ca sakhā tvam eva, tvam eva vidyā draviṇaṁ tvam eva, tvam eva sarvaṁ mama deva-deva
0not said yet
Aim for eleven before the next line. Move on when the line comes without reading.
Progress stays on this device.
When to recite it
Prayer's last words, recited at aarti's end, at night as the final surrender, and in helplessness, when every other support has been counted and found partial.
Word by word
- त्वमेव माता च पिताtvam eva mātā ca pitā
- you alone are mother and father
- बन्धुश्च सखाbandhuś ca sakhā
- kin and friend
- विद्या द्रविणंvidyā draviṇaṁ
- knowledge and wealth
- त्वमेव सर्वं ममtvam eva sarvaṁ mama
- you are my everything
- देवदेवdeva-deva
- O god of gods
Source: Pāṇḍava Gītā (traditional prayer corpus)