The opening verses of the Guru Gita, translated accurately for the first time

THE OPENING VERSES OF THE ŚRĪ-GURU-GĪTĀ (translation © Christopher Wallis)

Guru-dhyāna-śloka

Haṁsābhyāṁ parivṛtta-patra-kamalair divyair jagat-kāraṇair
viśvotkīrṇam aneka-deha-nilayaiḥ svacchandam ātmecchayā |
Tad-dyotaṁ pada-śāmbhavaṁ tu caraṇaṁ dīpāṅkura-grāhiṇaṁ
pratyakṣākṣara-vigrahaṁ guru-padaṁ dhyāyed vibhuṁ śāśvatam ||

"One should meditate on the eternal all-pervasive state of the Guru, which is the imperishable body before your very eyes || which is the embodiment of all the phonemes in visible form. One should meditate on the [form of] practice & conduct which holds ‘the flame of the lamp’, the Śāmbhava state which illumines that spontaneous freedom (svacchanda) which is freely inscribed in everything in existence by the divine Causes of the World that have all bodies as their abode, and which are [installed within] the ‘lotuses’ whose petals are rotated by ‘ham’ and saḥ’."

Kailāsa-śikhare ramye bhakti-sandhāna-nāyakam |
Praṇamya Pārvatī bhaktyā śaṅkaraṁ paryapṛcchata ||1||

On the beautiful summit of Mount Kailās, Pārvatī, having bowed with reverence to the One who leads [us] to union with devotion, asked her beloved Śankara:

Śrīdevyuvāca:
Om̐ namo deva-deveśa parātpara jagad-guro |
Sadāśiva mahādeva guru-dīkṣāṁ pradehi me ||2||

Reverent salutations, O God of gods, O teacher of the world, O always-auspicious one, O great divinity, give me initiation into the [secret of] the Guru [principle]!

Kena mārgeṇa bho svāmin! dehī brahma-mayo bhavet |
Tvaṁ kṛpāṁ kuru me svāmin namāmi caraṇau tava ||3||

O master! By what path does an embodied being become one with the Absolute? Bestow upon me your compassionate grace (kṛpā) [in the form of this knowledge], O master! I bow at your feet.

Īśvara uvāca:
Mama rūpāsi devi tvaṁ tvat-prītyarthaṁ vadāmyaham |
Lokopakārakaḥ praśno na kenāpi kṛtaḥ purā ||4||

The Lord said:
O Goddess, You are my Form (/you are Me in another form)! I tell you this out of love for you, [because] no one has ever before asked this question [solely] for the benefit of all beings.
(prīti = friendly disposition, kindness, favour, grace, amity, affection, love)

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