Prayer For Everyone

Patheos is joining in with a campaign to inspire people of all faiths to use prayer towards these three goals for the world:

• End Extreme Poverty
• Fight Inequality and Injustice
• Combat Climate Change

Naturally I think it will take more than just prayer to achieve these goals, but prayer is an important part of it.

My conception of prayer is that it is something that we do to purify ourselves and more clearly see the part we can play in helping the world. Towards that end we Hindus have mantras, chants, and prayers for particular effects. Our prayers tend to be phrases that have been passed on for thousands of years rather than the free-form type.

So here are some Hindu prayers that I think can be recited to help with these goals. Say them as part of your prayers or meditate on them as mantras.

End Extreme Poverty 

Om, Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ

Sarve santu nirāmayāḥ

Sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu

Mā kashchit duḥkha bhāgbhavet

Oṁ Shāntiḥ, Shāntiḥ, Shāntiḥ

ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः। सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः। सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु। मा कश्चित् दुःख भाग्भवेत्॥ ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

May all be prosperous and happy

May all be free from illness

May all see what is spiritually uplifting

May no one suffer

Om peace, peace, peace

Click here to encourage everyone on Twitter to say this prayer. 

Fight Inequality and Injustice 

tvameva pratyakṣaṃ bhrahmāsi |
tvāmeva pratyakṣam brahma vadiṣyāmi |
ṝtaṃ vadiṣyāmi |
satyaṃ vadiṣyāmi |
tanmāmavatu |
tadvaktāramavatu |
avatu mām |
avatu vaktāram |
Auṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||

त्वमेव प्रत्यक्षं ब्रह्मासि।
त्वामेव प्रत्यक्षम् ब्रह्म वदिष्यामि।
ॠतं वदिष्यामि। सत्यं वदिष्यामि।
तन्मामवतु।
तद्वक्तारमवतु।
अवतु माम्।
अवतु वक्तारम्।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥

You, indeed, are the immediate Brahman.

You alone I shall call the direct Brahman. I shall call you righteousness.

I shall call you truth. May He protect me.

May He protect the reciter. May He protect me. May He protect the reciter.

Aum, peace, peace, peace!

(Shortened version, begins at 0:24)

Combat Climate Change

Om Dyauh Shaanti-Antarikssam Shaanti 
Prthivii Shaanti-Aapah Shaantir-Ossadhayah Shaanti |
Vanaspatayah Shaanti-Vishve-Devaah Shaanti-Brahma Shaanti
Sarvam Shaanti Shaantireva Shaanti Saa Maa Shaanti-Edhi |
Om Shaanti Shaanti Shaanti ||

ॐ द्यौः शान्तिरन्तरिक्षं शान्तिः पृथिवी शान्तिरापः शान्तिरोषधयः शान्तिः ।
वनस्पतयः शान्तिर्विश्वेदेवाः शान्तिर्ब्रह्म शान्तिः सर्वं शान्तिः शान्तिरेव शान्तिः सा मा शान्तिरेधि ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Om, May there be Peace in Heaven, May there be Peace in the Sky,
May there be Peace in the Earth, May there be Peace in the Water, May there be Peace in the Plants,
May there be Peace in the Trees, May there be Peace in the Gods in the various Worlds, May there be Peace in Brahman,
May there be Peace in All, May there be Peace Indeed within Peace, Giving Me the Peace which Grows within Me, Om, Peace, Peace, Peace.

Tweet about this prayer

As you can see there are a variety of ways to represent Sanskrit words in English characters but regardless of how it is represented, the word Shanti appears in all of these prayers. Shanti is the Hindu word for peace and it is a very deep kind of peace indeed.

The website for #PrayerForEveryone also has some suggestions, including a Hindu social media suggestions page.