Opening Prayer

This is the prayer that is chanted at the beginning of an Ashtanga Yoga Practice. Traditionally the teacher leads the chant by singing the first line and the students follow by repeating each line. This, like most yogic prayers, is sung in Sanskrit and the rhythm and melody are a song to the soul.

Vande gurunam caranaravinde
Sandarsita svatmasukhave bodhe
Nisreyase jangalikayamane
Samsara halahala mohasantyai

Abahu purusakaram
Sankhacakrasi dharinam
Sahasra sirasam svetam
Pranamami patanjalim
Om

TRADITIONAL TRANSLATION

I bow to the lotus feet of the guru
Who awakens insight into the happiness of pure Being
Who is the refuge, the jungle physician
Who eliminates the delusion caused by
The poisonous herb of samara (conditioned existence)

I prostrate before the sage Patanjali
Who has thousands of radiant, white heads
(in his form as the divine serpent, Ananta)
and who has, as far as him arms, assumed the form of a man
holding a conch shell (divine sound), a wheel (discuss of light,
representing infinite time) and a sword (discrimination).
Om

SUSI'S TRANSLATION

I ground myself before the knowing one
Looking for the safety of pure radiance
Somewhere I can shelter from myself
Releasing the whirling of the cascading mind

I look to Patanjali
May I be strong enough to be truly vulnerable
Remind me that the light I search for is within me
Help me to remember that we are the same
Om