Welcome to Eternal Path Musings, a newsletter geared towards content that educates, informs, and inspires the Modern Hindu!
To read previous issues, click this link.
This week we feature: translated texts and stories, a stotra that anyone can chant, how young Hindus are defeating Hinduphobia, and an aesthetic
Resource Highlight: P. R. Ramachander’s Translations
P. R. Ramachander is a statistician from India who is also astrologer and prolific translator of Hindu texts. His translations include a number of Stotras, Stories, works by Tamil poets, Carnatic songs, and prayers. Links to his translations are available at this link.
Praxis Highlight: A Universal Stotra
Many Hindu mantras and stotras require proper adhikara to be properly used, and adhikara is generally provided by a guru of a given sampradaya. Certain prayers do not have their intended effects if used by people without that adhikara.
Traditionalists have developed a stotra which contains the Pancabrahma mantras and Tryambaka Stotra where all who are interested in chanting can do so and automatically have the adhikara to do so. The link is available here - and the Sanskrit slokas are listed below.
[Kālabhīti uvāca]
pāpasya kālaṃ bhavapaṅkapālaṃ kalākalaṁ kālamārgasya kālam।
devaṃ mahākālamahaṃ prapadye śrīkālakaṇṭharūpaṃ bhavakālarūpam॥
īśānavaktraṃ praṇamāmi tvāhaṃ stauti śrutiḥ sarvavidyeśvarastvaṃ।
bhūteśvarastvaṃ prapitā mahastvaṃ tasmai namaste’stu maheśvarāya॥ (Īśāna vaktramantrātmaka śloka)
yaṃ stauti vedastamahaṃ prapadye tatpuruṣasaṃjñaṃ śaraṇaṃ dvitīyam।
tvāṃ vidmahe tacca nastvaṃ pradehi śrīrudra devadevaśa namonamaste॥ (Tatpuruṣa vaktramantrātmaka śloka)
aghoravaktraṃ tritayaṃ prapadye atharvajuṣṭaṃ tava rūpakāṇi।
aghoraghorāṇi ca ghoraghorāṇyahaṃ sadā naumi bhūtāni tubhyam॥ (Aghora vaktramantrātmaka śloka)
caturthavaktraṃ ca sadā prapadye sadyobhijātāya namonamaste।
bhavebhavenādibhavo bhavasva bhavodbhavo māṃ śiva tatratatra॥ (Sadyojāta vaktramantrātmaka śloka)
namo’stu te vāmadevāya jyeṣṭharudrāya kālāya kalāvikariṇe।
balaṃkarāyāpi balapramāthine bhūtāni haṃtre ca manonmanāya॥ (Vāmadeva vaktramantrātmaka śloka)
triyaṃbakaṃ tvāṃ ca yajāmahe vayaṃ supuṇyagandhaiḥ śivapuṣṭivardhanam।
urvārukaṃ pakvamivograbaṃdhanādrakṣasva māṃ tryaṃbakaṃ mṛtyumārgāt॥ (Tryambaka mantrātmaka śloka)
ṣaḍakṣaraṃ mantravaraṃ taveśa japaṃti ye munayo vītarāgāḥ।
teṣāṃ prasanno’si japāmahe tvoṃkārapūrvaṃ ca namaḥ śivāya॥ (Oṃkārayukta śivapañcākṣaramantrātmaka śloka)phalaśruti
[Mahādeva uvāca]
saptamantrarahasyaṃ ca yatkṛtaṃ stavataṃ mama।
anena paṭhyamānena saptamantraphalaṃ labhet॥