Pratah Smarana Stotram ia a Morning Prayer
This is a prayer composed by Sri Adi Shankaracharya consisting of three stanzas in which the mind (manas) speech (vak), and body (kaya) of the individual are sought to be dedicated to the supreme Spirit.
The first thoughts, words and actions of everyday exert a great influence on the life of the individual. If they are consecrated and made divine, they will pave the way for spiritual illumination. The prayer at dawn is profoundly significant in that the dawn is the outer symbol of the inner awakening.
In these stanzas, Shankara sets forth also the quintessence of Advaita-Vedanta. The ultimate Reality is Saccidananda (existence-consciousness-bliss). It is tureya, that which is the reality of the three states of experience and is beyond them. These expressions, however, ought not to be taken literally as descriptive or definitive of Reality. Hence it is that Brahman is indicated by the negative way, as `not this’, `not this’. Brahman eludes categorization; it is not within the limits of ideas and words. The so-called individual soul is non-different from it. The soul is not to be confused with the body-mind complex. The elements that constitute the world are but illusory appearances on the basic Reality, even as a shake, a garland, etc., are projections on a rope. As the sun of wisdom rises, these illusions disappear, and the goal of life is reached.
Pratah Smarana Stotram in English:
॥ prātaḥsmaraṇa stōtram ॥
Prátah smarámi hrudi samsphuradátmatattvam
saccitsukham paramahamsagatim turèyam
yatsvapna jágarasussuptamavaiti nityam
tadbrahma niskalamaham na cha bhutasañgha.॥ 1 ॥
Pratarbhajámi manasá vacasámagamyam
vacho vibhánti nikhilá yadanugrahena
yanneti neti vacanair nigamá avocam-
stam devadevamajam achyutam áhur agryam.॥ 2 ॥
Prátarnamami tamasah paramarkavarnam
pürnam sanátanapadam purushottamaakhyam
yasminnidam jagadaseshamaseshamurtau
rajjvaam bhujamgama iva pratibhasitam vai.॥ 3 ॥
Slokatrayamidam punyam lokatrayavibhusanam
pratahkale pathedyastu sa gacchetparamam padam.॥
Pratasmarana Stotram Meaning:
At dawn I remember the Reality which is the Self, shining brilliantly in the heart, existence-consciousness-happiness, the goal of Paramahamsasannyasins (sages), the Fourth; That which knows always the states of dream, waking and deep-sleep, that Brahman which is partless I am, not the cluster of elements.
At dawn, I sing the praise of That which is unattainable by mind and speech, but by the grace of which all words shine. That which the scriptures declare through the words `not this’, `not this’- That God of gods, they say, is unborn and unchanging.
At dawn, I bow to that which is called the Highest Self which is beyond darkness, of the hue of the Sun the ancient goal which is the plenum – That, the residues form (i.e. the whole) in which the entire universe is made manifest like a serpent in a rope.
This meritorious triad of verses, the ornament of the three words – he who reads at the time of dawn goes to the supreme goals.
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