Prātaḥ Smaraṇa Stotram
Attributed to Ādi Śaṅkara; three verses (the closing phala-śruti verse is omitted)
प्रातः स्मरामि हृदि संस्फुरदात्मतत्त्वं सच्चित्सुखं परमहंसगतिं तुरीयम् यत्स्वप्नजागरसुषुप्तिमवैति नित्यं तद्ब्रह्म निष्कलमहं न च भूतसङ्घः प्रातर्भजामि मनसा वचसामगम्यं वाचो विभान्ति निखिला यदनुग्रहेण यन्नेतिनेतिवचनैर्निगमा अवोचं स्तं देवदेवमजमच्युतमाहुरग्र्यम् प्रातर्नमामि तमसः परमर्कवर्णं पूर्णं सनातनपदं पुरुषोत्तमाख्यम् यस्मिन्निदं जगदशेषमशेषमूर्तौ रज्ज्वां भुजङ्गम इव प्रतिभासितं वै
prātaḥ smarāmi hṛdi saṃsphurad ātma tattvaṃ sac cit sukhaṃ parama haṃsa gatiṃ turīyam yat svapna jāgara suṣuptim avaiti nityaṃ tad brahma niṣkalam ahaṃ na ca bhūta saṅghaḥ prātar bhajāmi manasā vacasām agamyaṃ vāco vibhānti nikhilā yad anugraheṇa yan neti neti vacanair nigamā avocaṃ s taṃ deva devam ajam acyutam āhur agryam prātar namāmi tamasaḥ param arka varṇaṃ pūrṇaṃ sanātana padaṃ puruṣottamākhyam yasminn idaṃ jagad aśeṣam aśeṣa mūrtau rajjvāṃ bhujaṅgama iva pratibhāsitaṃ vai
Translation
At dawn, I meditate on the reality shining in my heart, sat chit ananda, sought by saints, transcendent, which forever abides in waking, dreams, and sleep. I am that indivisible brahman, not this material body. At dawn, I worship him beyond words and thoughts, who causes all words and thoughts to arise, declared as "not this, not this" in the scriptures, the unborn, immutable, primal, god of gods. At dawn, I bow to him shining through the darkness, the limitless, eternal abode, the supreme person, in whom the entire world appears like a snake appears on a rope.
Swami Tadatmananda (Arsha Bodha)
How it helps
Each verse opens at dawn — prātaḥ smarāmi, prātar bhajāmi, prātar namāmi: I remember, I worship, I bow. Before the day’s roles and worries have taken hold, the stotram reminds you what you are underneath them: the awareness that is present through waking, dreaming, and deep sleep (svapna-jāgara-suṣupti), and that none of those states can damage. Ahaṃ na ca bhūta-saṅghaḥ — “I am not this bundle of elements.”
That recognition is the source of the peace it offers. It isn’t peace as the absence of problems, but a vantage point the problems don’t reach. The final image is the classic Advaita example: in dim light a rope is mistaken for a snake. The fear is completely real as an experience, yet nothing dangerous was ever there. Anxiety about the day ahead can be held the same way — felt, acknowledged, and seen against something steadier than it.
Starting the morning from that place tends to colour the rest of the day: events still happen, but there is a bit more room between you and them, and decisions get made from clarity rather than reaction.
How to practice
- Recite once, slowly, soon after waking — ideally before reaching for your phone.
- Chant along with the recording (Swami Tadatmananda, in Rāga Bhairav, a traditional morning rāga), or read one verse a day and stay with it.
- Afterwards, sit for a few minutes with the first verse’s question: what is it that is aware of waking, of dreams, and of sleep — and is it disturbed by any of them?
- When anxious later in the day, recall the rope and the snake: notice the fear, then ask what is actually there.
Notes
The pada break in verse 2 falls mid-sandhi: …निगमा अवोचं / स्तं देवदेवम्… reads continuously as nigamā avocaṃs taṃ devadevam (“the scriptures declared him … the god of gods”) — स्/स is the start of तम् carried onto the next printed line, a common effect of the metre not aligning with word boundaries.
A fourth, phala-śruti verse (“whoever recites this at dawn attains the supreme state”) traditionally follows but is omitted here, the focus being the meditation itself rather than the fruit of reciting it.