Gurave Mantra
ॐ नमः शिवाय गुरवे
सच्चिदानन्द मूर्तये ।
निष्प्रपञ्चाय शान्ताय
निरालम्बाय तेजसे ॥
Oṃ namaḥ śivāya gurave
saccidānanda mūrtaye ।
niṣprapañcāya śāntāya
nirālambāya tejase ॥
Oṃ. Homage (namaḥ) to Śiva (śivāya) as Guru (gurave). To the embodiment (mūrtaye) of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (saccidānanda). To the one beyond-phenomena (niṣprapañcāya), to the peaceful (śāntāya), To the supportless (nirālambāya), to the luminous (tejase).
This profound invocation recognizes Śiva not merely as transcendent deity but as the immediate presence of the Guru-principle (guruttva) — that self-luminous awareness through which all knowledge arises and recognition dawns.
The verse systematically reveals the Guru's essential nature. As saccidānanda-mūrti, the Guru manifests as the very form (mūrti) of pure Being-Consciousness-Bliss, not possessing these qualities but being their living embodiment. The term niṣprapañca indicates the Guru's nature as beyond all phenomenal appearances (prapañca) — neither within the world of name-and-form nor separate from it, but as the awareness in which all appearances arise and dissolve.
Śānta reveals the Guru as the peace that surpasses understanding — not the temporary quietude of mental stillness but the eternal rest (viśrānti) of consciousness at ease in its own nature. Nirālamba points to the self-sufficient nature of awareness that requires no external support (ālamba) — it is the ground of all experience while remaining forever ungrounded itself.
Finally, tejas designates the Guru as pure luminosity — the self-evident radiance of consciousness through which everything becomes known while itself remaining the eternal knower, never an object of knowledge.