Nine
Opening Mantra Invoking Lord Ganesha
Vakratunda Maha Kaya
Koti Surya Samaprabha
Nirvignam Kuramae Deva
Sarva Karyeshu Sarvada
Opening Mantra Invoking Lord Ganesha (4 min.)
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The Essence and Power of the Prayer
The power of this mantra is that of purification and removal of impediments. When coming to ceremony (puja) one seeks to be cleansed of all wrong thoughts or motivations before activating the power of the puja’s words of truth. By chanting this mantra before meditation, mantra practice or puja you will be blessed with this purification.
When to Use
Always used prior to the start of a night of chanting (Bhajan) and night of sacred story telling (Kirtan) and focused ceremony using scripture to invoke a transformation (puja). You can also use this at the start of your day, prior to chanting or meditating or as an invocation followed by your own personal prayers. Invoke Lord Ganesha in this way before any noble endeavor.
Literal Translation
Lord Ganesha, Kindly remove the impediments from all the works we do. You are the light and shine the brilliance of a million suns.
Story
I have heard this preformed in the guttural sound the priests use to recite Sanskrit as well as passionately prayer with the western scales and tones. Both styles of presentation musically draw the listener into the present moment: then to the realms of the divine.
The statue of Ganesha was always prominent to the temple and key to the beginning of every endeavor in the ashram and temple life. The kind friend Lord Ganesha is always at the ready to be of service and bring about a shift to the group or individual seated in reverence ready and poised for transformation.
The melodic tones in this mantra were gifted to me by Swami Vandana, who ran the Oakland ashram of the ‘Temple of Cosmic Religion’ for several years. Her devotion and passion would start any puja off with incredible force and love. The room palpably shifted and the disciples dropped into their own version of divinity and anticipation of what was to come. Often filled with emotions and challenges from the day or week, this mantra would trigger a release an a renewal, time to be back with the divine, back to what is pure, good and true about our own individual nature and the uniting of our nature with God.
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