Prarthana Sangraha (Sanskrit Text with Transliteration and English Translation)

Preface

The Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient Lord, in His Absolute Formless state, is beyond the reach of the common man's mind which is not cultured and refined enough, to comprehend this formless Absolute. To contemplate on this supreme Lord, a resolute mind backed by rigid discipline in scriptural studies is essential. But how can the all compassionate Creator ever remain unreachable to the world of a common man, who is still lingering in the tastes of the materialistic accomplishments, yet occasionally feels the pang and hence yearns for unison with The Divine.

To satiate this spiritual craving of .man, the Universal Father, Mother incarnates, rather comes down to the level of men, lives with them, teaches them and puts them back on the track of spiritual inquiry. The purpose of Divine incarnation is very succinctly put forth by Sri Aurobindo in his poem "Savitri" thus -

I have come down in the human world

And the movement watched by an unsleeping Eye

And the dark contrariety of earth's fate

And the battle of the bright and sombre powers.

I stand upon earth's paths of danger and grief

And help the unfortunate and save the doomed.

To the strong I bring the guerdon of their strength,

To the weak I bring the annour of my force;

To men who long I carry them coveted joy:

I guide man to the path of the Divine.

To such merciful Lord our obeisance is due every moment of our life-time. It is as a measure of our gratitude that numerous hymns, praises and verses are composed by seers. They aid us in divine contemplation and have been in vogue from time immemorial. Most of these are on the different aspects and facets of this Supreme Brahman. Seeing multiplicity in the divine pantheon, one should always remember that our Vedic religion does not advocate pan-theism i.e. belief in multiple- Gods, but only panen-theism i.e. belief in One Absolute God in multiple facets. The Veda is very clear in this regard when it says-ekam sat, vipraah bahudha vadanti i.e. the Supreme Truth (Lord) is only one, the wise call it by many names.

It is to suit the temperament of the devotees, whose mental make-up differs, that hymns on the different facets of the Lord by various devotees, are recorded in Puranic & Tantric texts and some have come down to us in the form of oral tradition too.

Giri Trading Agency Private limited which is a household name known as the pioneers in publishing such prayer texts for the benefit of the society, has brought out this short compilation of verses on the plethora of deities along with a general import in English language. While reading these prayer hymns, one not only gets the taste of the lyrical nector of these hymns composed by great seers like Adi Shankara and others., but also is captivated by the profound ideas expressed in such brevity.

May the children of every household in the present generation be guided by the elders in the house to recite these simple yet profound verses, May the choicest blessings of The Divine Lord be showered on all who recite these verses in part or full.

May such sincere and service oriented endeavours of the spiritual minded publishers Giri Trading Agency Private limited oe well rewarded by this book being read by one and all.

Oh Divine Lord of vast compassion, for the fulfillment of - e ultimate desires we depend on Thee.

Foreword

Prarthana or Prayer is an integral part of every human being irrespective of any religion that he may belong to and has been in practice since time immemorial. India which is the very base of this prayer culture has innumerable prayer texts in praise of Lord Supreme in all the languages and dialects prevalent in the country.

Vedas are considered to be the very root of Supreme Wisdom and knowledge. Sanskrit is called as the language of the Vedas. In fact this language itself begins with prayers.

Though the truth is that Lord Almighty is formless, this Ultimate Formless Power assumes different forms and names according to the wishes of an individual who prays to Him in that particular form & name. Whatever be the name and form , the object of prayer is to realize the Supreme.

Thus we find infinite deities in Hinduism but at the same time the unitary nature of the absolute Reality is not lost.

Prayers are not to achieve any material gain from the Supreme, though every prayer has the power to get anything that one seeks. Prayer is to thank Almighty for whatever we continue to receive through His Grace, from every creation of His. Thus we have Prayer texts in praise of mother earth for supporting us, the trees, the rivers, the oceans, the mountains and every other creation of that Almighty God.

Human life is not always a bed of roses but one experiences the prick of thorns at times too. There are times when one feels impossible to combat the miseries that he faces and during these times of distress one looks upto the Higher Force to protect him. One requires to have a strong will to stand erect at these times of miseries and depressions. During these difficult times Prayer give him abundant faith and makes him grow mentally strong so that he can face the problems boldly and courageously and finally emerge victorious.

Unlike animals, it's only the human beings who have more expectations which is not only from life but even after death. It's also true that only humans are bestowed with the power of discrimination, the power to discriminate & discard his lower objectives and strive towards achieving higher objectives, the highest being realization of the Absolute. To achieve this, one requires to purify his mind transcending desires, hatred, jealousy, vanity, pride, envy and the likes. It's through the compassionate guidance of a Guru (Preceptor) that one can achieve tranquillity of mind. Thus there are prayers praising the Greatness of a Guru.

Every such sincere objective of a man can thus be achieved through the Power of Prayers.

Taking all these into account Giri Trading Agency Private limited who have been known as pioneers in publishing books in various languages containing such prayer texts, have made a sincere and earnest attempt to compile small prayer texts on every deity and object of worship in this Book titled "Prarthana Sangraha" with original Sanskrit Text ,their relevant English - transliteration and translations. This effort of the Publishers is praiseworthy.

May Lord Almighty shower His choicest blessings on all those read these prayers and also the Publishers who continue to e the society through their sincere services in their own best possible ways.