In Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.
Narayana is the resting place of all beings, the one who reclines upon the waters of dissolution and from whose navel the lotus of Brahma arises. In the Narayana Sukta of the Taittiriya Aranyaka he is praised as the thousand-headed deity whose eyes are the universe, who is both within the heart the size of a thumb and beyond the farthest heaven. The name itself is traditionally derived from nara, the waters, and ayana, the abode, so that Narayana is the ground upon which the cosmic waters settle. He is not portrayed here as an avatar who descends into history but as the unchanging person who remains after names, forms and cycles have withdrawn. The sukta places him at the centre of the heart-cave, surrounded by a network of luminous channels, making the inward journey and the cosmic vision a single continuous movement.
The Narayana Sukta, preserved in the tenth prapathaka of the Taittiriya Aranyaka, does not recount a battle or a childhood exploit. Instead it maps the presence of Narayana inside the human body and simultaneously across the expanse of the worlds. The seer describes a lotus of twelve digits suspended upside-down within the heart, its stalk pointing upward. In the centre of that lotus is a tiny space free of sorrow, and within that space stands the purusha who is Narayana. From him proceed the vital breaths, the senses and the mind; into him they return. The same passage identifies him with the supreme brahman, with the purusha of a thousand heads, and with the light that never sets. Later Vaishnava reading takes this interior geography as the warrant for meditating on Narayana as both the transcendent source and the intimate companion seated in the cavity of the heart, so that the recitation of the sukta becomes a guided entry into that inner chamber rather than a petition addressed to a distant deity.
The seed mantra, and the form most devotees chant daily. No initiation is required — it is open to anyone, including a parent chanting for a child.
Aim is the mantra, in a sense. The rest is address and salutation; the seed syllable carries the goddess. Where a practitioner has been given a very short practice, it is often Aim alone.
In viśvaśambhuvam the cluster śam-bhu places a palatal sibilant directly before a labial aspirate. Speakers frequently merge the two into a single soft “shambu,” losing the distinct release of bh. The sibilant must finish before the lips close for bhu; otherwise the ancient epithet that calls him the source of all welfare is blurred.
Weekday. Thursday
Chanting is yours to do, and free. But which deity your situation calls for — and whether a mantra alone is the right response — depends on your chart. Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.
Where a matter carries real weight — an examination that decides a course, a performance, a child whose studies have stalled — devotees sponsor the homa alongside their own practice. Performed individually at our Yagna Ashram in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your chart, and telecast live so you can watch it done for you.