There are six main types of mantras used in worship of deities:
Dhyana mantras are meditational mantras used to evoke in the mind the transcendental form of the Lord, His abode and play.
Bija-mantras are mantra-seeds; they are intended for meditation and purification of objects used in puja.
3) Mula-mantras – mantra roots (mula – root). They are the essence of the Godhead; they are uttered by turning to the Lord and offering Him any object of worship.
Stuti and Stotra are prayers recited before, during, or after worship, glorifying the name, form, qualities, and play of the Lord.
Pranama-mantras are prayers recited during offerings of worship to the Lord at the end and beginning of worship.
6) Gayatri-mantras – mantras of Vedas or Pancharatriks used in worship of the Lord, awakening three principles – sambandha, abhideya, prayojana.
Although there are special mules and Gaiatri mantras for meditation on the spiritual master, the shastras advise to see the spiritual master in all the mantras received from him. The Vedas say: yo mantras sa guruh sakshat, yo guruh sa harih swayam, guru yasya bhavet tustas-tasya tusto harih swayam “Mantra, the given guru, is itself a guru, and the guru is the Supreme Lord Himself Hari. If one satisfies a spiritual master, one also satisfies Sri Hari Himself.” The acaryas explain that with the help of the mantra, the spiritual master conveys to the student his inner mood of serving Radha and Krishna. The disciple does not perceive it immediately, he will understand everything gradually, thanks to guru-bhakti, seva and meditation on the mantra given to him. Therefore, the mantra is the direct representative of the spiritual master.
Since any offering and worship of the Lord is offered by the disciple of ISKCON, the family of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, through his guru, the pranama mantra becomes a prayer for him to his spiritual master. This is the mantra of worshiping a spiritual master. “Pranam” means to bow.
The first part of the pranama-mantra is meditation on the spiritual master as a close and dear servant of Lord Krishna and on the position of the spiritual master – saksad-dhari, that is, the spiritual master occupies the same position as the Supreme Lord due to his perfect service to Him.
The second part describes the guru’s mission in the general mission of spreading Krishna consciousness, his authority and the mood of preaching.
❗In 1999, it was decided by the GBC: after the pranam mantra, your spiritual master should always repeat the pranam mantra of Srila Prabhupada. This was introduced to ensure that we do not forget our connection with the parampara and to emphasize Srila Prabhupada’s special position as the founder-acarya of ISKCON and our siksha guru.
The following are situations in which a student should say a prayer to his guru:
🔺1. As soon as the sincere disciple, who with all his heart wants to accept or has already accepted his guru (or even if he did it unconsciously), awoke and stood up, he first of all bows to the spiritual master and Sri Krsna, uttering Hare Krishna maha-mantra and pranama-mantra guru and Srila Prabhupada, asking their blessing to serve devotees and Sri Krsna on this day, to avoid the ten insults of the Holy Name and to be a humble and Krishna conscious devotee. At the same time, a sincere student feels genuine joy because he has a spiritual teacher – the most important person in his life, to whom he is ready to serve, and in whose footsteps he is ready to go to the spiritual world.
🔺2. Before chanting the 16 rounds of Hare Krishna maha-mantra, everyone should chant the pranama-mantra of the guru (if he has received pranama or initiated) and Srila Prabhupada, and ask for blessings for attentive and unoffensive repetition of his circles. Those who have already received the initiation, the harinama initiation, thank the guru for the spiritual power he receives through his spiritual master from the entire guru parampara. And he tries very carefully to repeat his circles on the rosary, fulfilling the instruction of the spiritual teacher.
🔺3. Entering the altar for the first time, bowing to Srila Prabhupada, you need to read: “vancha-kalpa tarubyash cha”, pranama-mantra to the spiritual teacher, pranama-mantra Srila Prabhupada and Panchatattva maha-mantra (“jay Sri Krishna chaitanya”). Then all the same (except for “vancha-kalpa tarubyash cha”), bowing to the Deities. Every other time you bow to the Deities on this day, you need to repeat the pranama mantra to your guru, Srila Prabhupada and Panchatattva maha mantra.
🔺4. When offering bhoga on the altar (except for special prayers), the disciple reads the pranama mantra to the spiritual master, the pranama mantra of Srila Prabhupada and the Panchatattva maha mantra, offering bhoga to the feet of the guru, asking for his mercy. We can serve the Lord only through a spiritual master, and we ask that Gurudev give our offering to the Deities or Pancha-tattva through a guru-parampara. Thus, every time we offer a bhoga on the altar, we have the opportunity to pay our respects to the whole guru-parampara.
After the offer, before removing the prasad from the altar, before entering the altar, it is also necessary to bow, reading the pranam to your guru. The rest of the mantras and standards depend on whether we worship the Panchatattva or the household or temple Deities.
🔺5. Before taking prasadam, we repeat the pranama mantra to the spiritual master, the pranama mantra of Srila Prabhupada and the Panchatattva maha mantra, thanks to the spiritual master and Lord Krishna for mercy.
To cultivate the consciousness of the disciple, the position of the disciple will help us to understand that before we begin to accept prasadam, we must invite our guru (in the event that the prasadam is completely clean). A sincere disciple cannot read prasad before his Gurudev. The disciple may also pray to Krsna that his brothers and sisters offer Prasad only of good spiritual and material quality to the spiritual master.
🔺6. Before giving a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam, the disciple repeats the pranama-mantra to the spiritual master, the pranama-mantra Srila Prabhupada, and the Panchatattva maha-mantra, asking for their blessings in order to convey the message of the Bhagavatam to the audience exactly without distorting it, in the spirit of the trinad-api sunichena, or to hear and understand correctly the instructions of the guru-sastra-sadha. The same pranamas must be chanted before reading and studying the sastras and other Vedic literatures, because we can understand transcendental knowledge only by the grace of our spiritual masters and Lord Krishna.
🔺7. Before the beginning of the service, starting any work, the disciple asks for blessings on this, repeating the “Mangala-carana”, in which the first place is pranama-mantra to the spiritual teacher, then pranama-mantra Srila Prabhupada, and then prayer to the Lord. The disciple turns to his spiritual master for help: “Only by your mercy can I perform any service.”
🔺8. During the Mangala-arati in the temple, before performing Tulasi-puja and after puja, the disciple repeats the pranama-mantra to the spiritual master, the pranama-mantra Srila Prabhupada and the Panchatattva maha-mantra. Serving Tulasi Devi (watering, leaf picking and spraying) is also necessary to offer bows before and after the service and chant the same pranamas.
🔺9. Each time he makes a bow to his guru, the disciple repeats his pranama mantra. The worshiper offers his spiritual master as many times as he sees or meets his guru. We offer a bow to another ISKCON spiritual master at least once. In these cases, “vancha-kalpa tarubiash cha” is read.
If a devotee meets his siksa guru, seeing him as a diksa guru, he also repeats pranam to his spiritual master.
If the devotee has developed his consciousness and sees his guru in each of the spiritual teachers, he can also repeat pranam to his spiritual master when meeting each of them.
🔺10. Those who have Brahmanical initiation before and after chanting the Gayatri Mantra should read the Pranama Mantra to their spiritual master, Pranama Mantra Srila Prabhupada, and Panchatattva Maha Mantra.
🔺11. In the evening, before going to bed, we offer a bow to our Gurudeva and recite pranama-mantra to our spiritual master, pranama-mantra Srila Prabhupada and Panchatattva maha-mantra, thanks to Them for the opportunity to serve devotees and Krishna. Thanks to the spiritual realizations that came to us by the grace of our gurus on this day, for the spiritual fellowship that we received by the grace of the guru, for the instructions that we heard on this day and received the power to carry them out, for the knowledge that our spiritual teacher gives us, for the fact that we have become closer to Krishna on this day and for the secret that each of us has, thanks to our Guru Maharaja, and of which only the student himself knows.
PRANAMA-MANTRA helps to establish relationships, connections between the guru and the student. By chanting the pranama mantra, the disciple should feel more and more the protection of the guru and Krishna. The spiritual master must become closer (if everything happens correctly, without insults). All pranamas should always be read, understanding their meaning and trying to put feelings.
The material was prepared by Mataji Mathurachandrika d.d.
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