Hi All, I am trying to learn a few slokas and would like help in understanding them. Here is the first one: A-gajanana padmarkam Gajananam Aha-nisham Aneka dam-tam Bhaktaanam Eka-dantam-Upasmahe I've been able to use Google to find it's essence in meaning: "Seeing the elephant-faced Ganesha all the time, Goddess Parvati’s face lighted up, just like how a lotus opens up seeing the sun and I meditate upon the Lord with single tusk, the giver of many boons to the devotees." But what I want to understand is the word-by-word - which is what will help me remember the words. So what does "agajanana" mean? What does padmarkam mean ? And so on... Thank you!
Thank you very much - very good resource! It is so interesting how the meaning here is a little different from my other source: "Meaning: 1: As the Rays from the Lotus-Face of Gauri (Devi Parvati) is Always on Her Beloved Son Gajanana ( Who is having the Face of an Elephant ), 2: Similarly, the Grace of Sri Ganesha is Always on His Devotees; Granting their Many Prayers; the Devotees who with deep devotion Worship the Ekadanta ( Who is having a Single Tusk )."
Hey will you be posting more such shloka and request meaning here for the same in this thread? I would like to learn. So I'll follow this thread.
So that others coming to this thread don't have to check the link and mouse over each word: Agajaanana: The Face of Gauri [Devi Parvati] Agajaa = Devi Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya Aanana = Face Padmaarkam: The Rays from the Lotus [Face of Gauri] Padma = Lotus Arka = Belonging or Relating to Sun Gajaananam: Having the Face of an Elephant Gaja = Elephant Aanana = Face Aharnisham: Day and Night, Continually Anekadamtam: Granting Many [Wishes of] His [Devotees] Aneka = Many Da = Giving, Granting Tam = His Bhaktaanaam: Devotees Bhakta = Devotee Ekadantam: Having a Single Tusk Eka = One Danta = Tusk Upaasmahe: Worship Upaas = Worship A couple of questions in my mind: - What's a little confusing for me is that the actual words in the sloka alone don't make a sentence or convey the meaning fully - leaving it up to the interpretation of the translator (maybe?). It seems the 4 words in the first two sentences can be translated to either: "Seeing the elephant-faced Ganesha all the time, Goddess Parvati’s face lighted up, just like how a lotus opens up seeing the sun" or "As the Rays from the Lotus-Face of Gauri (Devi Parvati) is Always on Her Beloved Son Gajanana ( Who is having the Face of an Elephant )" How do we know which is right? - Can Aharnisham be broken down to constituent words to get the meaning "day and night" ?
Atma Rama Ananda Ramana Achyutha Keshava Hari Narayana Bhava Bhaya Harana Vanditha Charana Raghukula Bhooshana Rajeeva Nayana Adi Narayana Anantha Shayana Satchidananda Sathya ( Sai ) Narayana Verse Meaning: O Lord Rama! You are indweller of hearts and You are the embodiment of bliss. Chant the names of Keshava, Narayana and Sai, the remover of worldly fears. O Lotus eyed jewel of the Raghu dynasty, the embodiment of truth, awareness and bliss, we bow down to Your lotus feet. Source: Atma Rama Ananda Ramana | Sathya Sai International Organization - USA For the word-to-word meaning, I tried to check the source that @Viswamitra Sir shared but couldn't spot it.
Dear @startinganew , Thank you for starting this! It would be interesting for me to follow and learn as well. I know it is not going to be easy but will be very interesting! This website here gave me a better breakdown of the Samskrit words I feel..... Guru Peetham: Meaning of Ganesha Shloka - Agajanana Padmarkam I believe, it is dam(dum)=giver I also think tam=that (not as given in the website) It has to be Agajanana - the face of parvati (lit up) Padmarkam - like the lotus brightening with sun "Seeing the elephant-faced Ganesha all the time, Goddess Parvati’s face lighted up, just like how a lotus opens up seeing the sun" - from what you had said! And yes, translation is prone to a lot of interpretation depending who has done that. Yes! AHah=day Nisha=night So word to word meaning from the website I quoted - Word to word meaning: *Agaja = Parvati; Aanana = face; Padma = lotus flower; Arkam = sun; Gaja = elephant; Aananam = face/faced; AhaH = day; Nisham = night; Aharnisham = day & night (all the time or round the clock); Aneka = more than one / multiple; #Dam = giver; Tam = you/your; Bhaktaanaam = to the devotees; Eka = single or one; Dantam = tooth (tusk since it is an elephant); Upasmahe = I meditate upon; I would like to tag JS Ma'm @jayasala42 to please come and help us here! Thank you again @startinganew for starting this
@startinganew, Here is another with meaning. Asatoma Sadgamaya is a Shanti Mantra (Mantra of peace), it is taken from Brihadaranyaka Upanishads (1.3.28). It is used as a prayer in Indian schools, during spiritual/ religious gatherings , social events and other times; it is believed that the recitation of these verses bring peace. In recent times this peace mantra has been used in the 'Navras' soundtrack from the movie 'The Matrix Revolutions' Sanskrit Lyrics Lyrics transliterated in english Meaning in English असतोमा सद्गमय । तमसोमा ज्योतिर् गमय । मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय ॥ ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शान्तिः ।। asato mā sadgamaya tamasomā jyotir gamaya mrityormāamritam gamaya Oṁ śhānti śhānti śhāntiḥ From ignorance, lead me to truth; From darkness, lead me to light; From death, lead me to immortality Om peace, peace, peace Words and their meanings Word Meaning Asat Unreal, non-existence, untruth, ignorance Ma me Sat (sad) Reality, truth, Gamaya gam means movement, gamaya means move or lead Tam (tamas) darkness, ignorance Jyoti (jyotir) Light, clarity, purity Mrityu (mrityor) Death Amrita (amritam) Deathlessness, ambrosia Om holy ghost as in Christian trinity, holy word, word of creation, holy vibration, god Shanti peace
@Srama Thank you for the detailed response - I like how you clarified the subtleties! Thanks to the back and forth in this thread for this tiny sloka - I find it much easier to remember the words now. Also noticed how "Dantam" means tooth in Sanskrit and is close to the word Daant (tooth in Hindi.) While the word Thandam (in tamil) also so close, means tusk, while "pal" is the word for tooth.