Lyrics & Translation of guruvE nAm nAm [shloka]

[HariKrishna]

song: guruvE nAm nAm [shloka]
composer: H.H. Chandrasekhara Saraswati
artist: Sudha Raghunathan
CD: Samarpanam

[HariKrishna]

Just giving this a friendly bump. Is there no one who can take this on?

[Enna_Solven]

The song is actually tOTakAshTakam after the initial verse recited as viruttam.

Rajani please fix/translate:
gurur nAm nAm ahim-nacha shankarO yogirAjatE
tadeeyAm grihalabhRENu kanAyAstu manO mama

See wiki here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totakacharya#Totakashtakam

The Totakashtakam was composed by Giri in praise of his Guru Adi Shankara. Literally, it means a rhyme of eight (Sanskrit ashta) verses (shlokas) composes by Totaka.

Transliterated Lyrics of Toţakāşţakam

Thodakashtakam By Ananda Giri (Thodagacharya) Disciple of Adhi Sankara
Translated by P.R.Ramachander

Vidhithakhila sasthra sudha Jaladhe
Mahithopanishath kadithartha nidhe,
Hrudaye kalaye vimalam charanam,
Bhava Sankara dEsika mE saranam. 1
I praise and seek the protection of Sankara, Who is the ocean of nectar of our great holy books, And who is like the Treasure Of the essence of the great Upanishads, And I meditate on his clear holy feet in my heart.

Karuna varunalaya palaya mama,
Bhava sagara dukha vidhua mridham,
Rachayakhila darsana Thathwa vidham,
Bhava Sankara dEsika mE saranam. 2
I praise and seek the protection of Sankara, Who is the great ocean of mercy, And seek protection for me , who has suffered deep sorrow, In the ocean of day to day life, And also request to make me, Know all the schools of our philosophy.

Bhavatha janatha suhitha bhavitha,
Nija bodha vicharana charumathe,
Kalayeshwara jeeva viveka vidham,
Bhava Sankara dEsika mE saranam. 3
I praise and seek the protection of Sankara, Because of whom the world has a pleasant life, Oh great soul who can teach the great knowledge, Make me understand the knowledge of the soul.

Bhava eva bhavanihi may nitharam,
Samajayatha chethasi kauthukitha,
Mama vaaraya moha maha jaladhim,
Bhava Sankara dEsika mE saranam. 4
I praise and seek the protection of Sankara, When I understood it is him, I became ecstasic with happiness, And requested, please dry the ocean of passion in me.

Sukruthe adhikruthe bahudha bhavatha,
Bhavitha sama darshana lalasatha,
Athi deenamimam paripalaya maam,
Bhava Sankara dEsika mE saranam. 5
I praise and seek the protection of Sankara, When the good deeds accumulate and become more, Like you, my mind would see everything as equal, Please give protection to this very lowly me.

Jagathi avithum kalitha kruthayo,
Vicharanthi mahaa maha saschalatha,
Ahimmsurivathra vibhasi pura,
Bhava Sankara dEsika mE saranam. 6
I praise and seek the protection of Sankara, Those who are born to protect this world, And who are like a burning flame, Roam everywhere without any one’s knowledge, But you shine before me like the Sun God

Guru pungava pungava kethana they,
Samayamayatham nahi ko api sudhi,
Saranagatha vathsala Thathwa nidhe,
Bhava Sankara dEsika mE saranam. 7
I praise and seek the protection of Sankara, Who is the teacher among teachers Who does not have any equal, Who is the treasure house of Philosophy And who is merciful to those who seek his blessings.

Vidhitha na maya visadhaika kala,
Na cha kinchana kanchanamasthi guro,
Dhruthameva videhi krupaam sahajam,
Bhava Sankara dEsika mE saranam. 8
I praise and seek the protection of Sankara, And request him to shower his natural grace fast on me, Who does not possess expertise in any branch, And who does not even a small piece of wealth(gold?)

[Rajani]

Thank you Enna-solven, for the lead. Now I understood which Shloka this is. The tOTakAshTakam can be found in Sanskrit here :
http://www.kamakoti.org/shlokas/kshlok1.htm

The shloka is
gurur nAmnA mahimnA ca SankarO yO virAjatE
tadIyAnghri-galad-rENu-kaNAyAstu namO mama

My(mama) salutations(namo) to the dust(renu-kana) falling (galad) from the feet (anghri) of his(tadIya), who is resplendent (virajate) as the Guru Sankara by name (namna) as well as by his greatness(mahimna)
("San-kara" means "one who does good" and so the Guru Sankara is not only Sankara by name but also in this greatness (of doing good) )

[aaaaabbbbb]

Rajani.
excellent translation.

[rshankar]

Thanks Rajani...beautiful...

MODS or OP: Can you please change the title of this topic to 'gurur nAmnA'?

[Enna_Solven]

Thanks Rajani.

Sudha splits "nAmnA mahimnA ca" as "nAm nAm ahimnAca" with a loong gap between the second nAM and ahimnAca Also, she definitely sings "manO mama". Will it also not make sense, as in, "the dust from the holy feet resides in my heart"?

[Rajani]

E-S : "mano" would probably make sense, but I am quite sure the Shloka has namO in it. In which case, it would not be Ok to change it, I think. I remember reading somewhere that this was composed by the Mahaswami about Adi Sankara.

[HariKrishna]

Excellent! Thank you. Two more questions:

1) Translation of the initial viruttam verse

2) What rAga and tALa is the rest of this sung in?

[HariKrishna]

Sorry, I missed the translation of the initial viruttam verse. But I'm still missing the rAgam - does anyone know what rAgam Sudha Raghunathan sung this in?