Guru Parampara Vandana
This invocation is known as the Guru Parampara Vandana, a reverential salutation to the unbroken stream of teachers through whom sacred knowledge has been received, preserved, lived, and transmitted. To have one’s own lineage invocation is not to create a private claim upon truth, but to acknowledge the particular current through which that truth has reached us. Ancient paramparas often carried invocations that named both the great acharyas of the wider spiritual tradition and the realized teachers of their own living lineage.
Guru Parampara Vandana
Sanskrit
ॐ
नारायणं पद्मभुवं वसिष्ठं
शक्तिं च तत्पुत्रपराशरं च।
व्यासं शुकं गौडपदं महान्तं
गोविन्दयोगीन्द्रमथास्य शिष्यम्॥
श्रीशङ्कराचार्यमथास्य पद्मपादं
च हस्तामलकं च शिष्यम्।
तं तोटकं वार्तिककारमन्यान्
अस्मद्गुरून् सन्ततमानतोऽस्मि॥
Transcribed
Narayanam padmabhuvam Vasishtham
Shaktim cha tatputra Parasharam cha
Vyasam Shukam Gaudapadam mahantam
Govinda Yogindram athasya shishyam
Shri Shankaracharyam athasya Padmapadam
Cha Hastamalakam cha shishyam
Tam Totakam Vartikakaram anyan
Asmad gurun santatam anato'smi
Meaning
I bow continually to Narayana, Brahma the lotus-born, Vasishtha, Shakti, his son Parashara, Vyasa, Shuka, the great Gaudapada, and his disciple Govinda Yogindra; then to Shri Shankaracharya, his disciples Padmapada, Hastamalaka and Totaka, to the author of the Varttika, and to all the other Gurus of our lineage
Sarayu Parampara Invocation
Sanskrit
ॐ श्री गुरवे नमः।
सर्वजगदुद्धारणाय वेदप्रकाशनार्थाय च।
आत्मानौ प्रकटीकृतवन्तौ अस्मिन् जगतीतले॥
कर्मयोगस्य ज्ञानयोगस्य च गूढतत्त्वोपदेशनार्थम्।
वन्देऽहं पूज्यगुरू शान्तिप्रकाशम् अयोध्यानाथं च॥
ॐ ब्रह्मणे नमः।
ॐ नारायणाय नमः।
ॐ देवीमातृभ्यो नमः।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः।
ॐ तत्सत्।
हरिः ॐ॥
Transcribed
Om Shri Gurave Namah
Sarva jagad uddharanaya Veda prakashanarthaya cha
Atmanau prakatikritavantau asmin jagati tale
Karma yogasya Jnana yogasya cha gudha tattvopadeshanartham
Vande'ham pujya guru Shanti Prakasham Ayodhya Natham cha
Om Brahmane Namah
Om Narayanaya Namah
Om Devi Matribhyo Namah
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih
Om
Meaing
Om Shri Gurave Namah
Om. Salutations to the revered Guru.
Sarva jagad uddharanaya Veda prakashanarthaya cha
For the upliftment of the entire world and for the illumination of Vedic wisdom,
Atmanau prakatikritavantau asmin jagati tale
the two manifested themselves upon this earthly plane.
Karma yogasya Jnana yogasya cha gudha tattvopadeshanartham
For the purpose of teaching the profound truths of Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga,
Vande'ham pujya guru Shanti Prakasham Ayodhya Natham cha
I bow to the two revered Gurus, Shanti Prakash and Ayodhya Nath.
Om Brahmane Namah
Om. Salutations to Brahman, the Absolute Reality.
Om Narayanaya Namah
Om. Salutations to Narayana.
Om Devi Matribhyo Namah
Om. Salutations to the Divine Mothers.
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih
Om. Peace, peace, peace.
Om Tat Sat
Hari Om
When is the Vandana chanted?
Chanted before teaching, study, initiation, or sacred gathering, such an invocation places the speaker within the humility of continuity. One does not teach as an isolated individual, but as a custodian of wisdom received from those who came before. Within Sarayu Parampara, this vandana remembers the universal lineage of Advaita Vedanta while also invoking Acharya Ayodhya Nath and Acharya Shanti Prakash, through whom this current of Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Vedic illumination has been carried into the present age.I think in this parampara mantra.