Vishnu, who is Lord Shiva and who is indeed
Parabrahman – the Ocean of Consciousness.
I bow to the Guru who is Brahma, who is
Vishnu, who is Lord Shiva and who is indeed
Parabrahman – the Ocean of Consciousness.
| Gurur brahmaa | |
| goo – roor bru(h) – maa | |
Note: Brahmaa is the god of creation in the trinity of Hindu gods. In other parts of the Guru Gita we will see the word Brahman, which means the infinite ocean of pure undifferentiated consciousness. These are not the same words nor concepts, but sometimes they look the same, as in this verse. |
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| gurur vishnu | |
| goo – roor veesh - noo | |
Note: the 'sh' and the 'n' are cerebral sounds, made from the middle of the mouth, position 3. Let the tongue come back and touch the middle of the roof of the mouth as you make these sounds.
Vishnu is the god of maintenance. |
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| gurur devo |
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| goo – roor day – vo | |
| Note: devo is used here in the sense of emphasizing the great divinity of Shiva | |
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| maheshvarah | |
| mu – haysh – vu – ru (h) | |
| Note: Ishvarah means God; maha means great or huge. Grammatically, when the 'a' at the end of maha is followed by the 'i' at the beginning of Ishvarah, the 'a' + 'i' combine into 'e'. | |
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| Now glue the first phrase together... | |
| Gurur brahmaa gurur vishnu, gurur devo maheshvarah |
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| Gurur eva | |
| goo – roor ay – vu | |
| Note: eva means indeed, and is used frequently for emphasis; this is really really really so... | |
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| para brahma | |
| pu – ru bru (h) – mu | |
| Note: this looks the same as we saw at the beginning of this verse, but in this case, it is refering to the infinite ocean of pure undifferentiated consciousness. Para means supreme. | |
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| tasmai shri gurave namaha | |
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| now glue the second phrase... | |
| Gurur eva para brahma, tasmai shri gurave namaha. |
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| Now repeat the entire verse all together: | |
| Gurur brahmaa gurur vishnu, gurur devo maheshvarah; Gurur eva para brahma, tasmai shri gurave namaha. |
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| and know the keywords: | |
| Gurur brahmaa gurur vishnu, gurur devo maheshvarah; Gurur eva para brahma, tasmai shri gurave namaha. |
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| I bow to the Guru who is Brahma, who is Vishnu, who is Lord Shiva and who is indeed Parabrahman – the Ocean of Consciousness. |
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