Poems and Prayers, Part 1

Supreme Self

Salutations to Brahman. Salutations to Brahman.
Salutations to the God in the fire. Salutations to the God in the earth.
Salutations to the God in plants. Salutations to the Lord of Speech.
Salutations I offer to the Supreme Being. The all pervading Supreme Self.
--Taittariya Aranyaka, 1.30

Creator of Gods

May He,The Creator and Supporter of the gods,
the Lord of all, the destroyer of evil, the great seer,
He who broughtthe Cosmic Soul into being, may He
endow us with Good thoughts.
--Svetavatara Upanishad

Devi

O Mother!
Thou art in the Form of all things.
Thou dost control all.
Thou art the embodiment
of all power in the universe.
Do thou protect usfrom all fear.
Salutations to Thee, O remover of all ills.
Devi Mahatyam XI.23

Divine Mother

Ordainer of all scriptures, Controller of
all religious paths and righteousness,
Source of all wealth here and hereafter,
Even the lord of wealth, Kubera, worships Thy lotus feet.
Primal cause of all desires, O Mother, Yet,
Thou hast conqured all the passions.
The cause of devotion of the good and the righteous,
Verily Thou art the Consort and the Power of the Supreme Brahman.
I prostrate myself before Thee and surrender
To Thee, O Mother, with devotion and faith.
From the Anandalahari, By Sri Sankaracharya.

Mother Universal

O Mother Divine, Charity I never gave, Meditation I never practiced
Rituals I never performed. Never did I yearn after salvation.
Never did I aspire to merge with Brahman.Devotion I have none.
Vows I do not observe. Mother Universal, You are my only refuge.
Bhavanayaka Sataka

Great Spirit

Oh, Great Spirit,
whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me.
I am small and weak.
I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand
the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.
I seek strength, not to be superior to my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.
Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes,
so when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit will come to you
without shame.
American indian -lakota - chief yellow lark

Prayer for Peace and Happiness

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
-reinhold niebuhr - original version

Prayer for Wisdom

Lord of the whole universe, manifest and unmanifest,
Who made the mighty river of everlasting bliss,
Flowing in the heavens beyond our thoughts,
To descend to the earth and sanctify the mortals.
Great Teacher, ever seated in meditation, omniscient,
Grant me the wisdom that I may choose the correct path,
In this world of confusing images and transient objects.
-From the Hymns to Lord Siva by V.Jayaram

Where the Mind is Without Fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
- Rabindranath Tagore

The Gifts I ask

These are the gifts I ask
Of Thee, Spirit serene:
Strength for the daily task,
Courage to face the road,
Good cheer to help me bear the traveller's load,
And, for the hours of rest that come between,
An inward joy of all things heard and seen.
These are the sins I fain
Would have Thee take away:
Malice and cold disdain,
Hot anger, sullen hate,
Scorn of the lowly, envy of the great,
And discontent that casts a shadow gray
On all the brightness of the common day. -- DHenry Van Dykeyke